- Nobody but him was present.
- Nobody but he was present.
Which is the correct usage and why?
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3@Robusto I looked at that but I do not think it has a good explanation. – mplungjan May 18 '15 at 17:26
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1"Nobody was present but he" vs "Nobody was present but him" is perhaps an easier version to look at. In the versions you have, I would use "but him" – mplungjan May 18 '15 at 17:28
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2As long as the pronoun isn't the first and only subject NP, the objective form is right. Him is part of the phrase Nobody but him, which is a variant of nobody, except for him, so you see where the him comes from. This is a special idiomatic use of but, like its use in Nobbut-Clefts, – John Lawler May 18 '15 at 18:03
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"He was the only one present." – Hot Licks May 18 '15 at 18:42
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2Nobbut-Clefts being the forerunners of Hobbut-Holes is as likely as Tolkien's explanation of the origins of golf. – Edwin Ashworth May 18 '15 at 22:06
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2Would a reflexive sound more natural? i.e. himself/hisself. – Dog Lover May 18 '15 at 22:11
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To avoid using either, consider, "Nobody was present but/except for him." – Faraz Masroor May 19 '15 at 02:06
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This answer post might be helpful: “Nobody but he/him was present”? – F.E. May 19 '15 at 02:53
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@Dog Lover: definitely not. There is no reflection suggested in the sentence. – Brian Hitchcock May 19 '15 at 07:22
2 Answers
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Nobody/None but he was present. - The use of "he", the subject pronoun is grammatically correct.
However, there may be more common alternatives:
He was the only one present. - As already brought up.
He was the sole attendee. - Depends on the context, say, conference, meeting, etc.
Sankarane
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Nobody except him was present.
"ecxept" is a preposition and that is why "him" rather than "he" is used. I would take "but" to be (in this instance) synonymous with "except", so it's a preposition and one uses "him".
Michael Hardy
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