Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Grammar


Imagine this.  During a much-needed break, two interns are practicing for the upcoming on campus interviews for current 2Ls.  One intern sets the scene. "OK, you be Covington and Burling, I'll be I"

At this point, others interjected, saying, "I'll be I" or "I will be I" could not possibly be right.  But it is.  

Any two nouns linked by some form of the verb "to be", including its future or subjunctive or past tenses, are always both in the nominative or subjective case, e.g., "Who will be the winner?/ The winner will be who?" --> "He will be the winner / The winner will be he." 

NOT

"The winner will be him."
"Whom will be the winner?"
"The winner will be whom?"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, how is this relevant to OGIs?

Rule 12 (f) said...

Uh, b/c it came up when we were practicing for interviews duhhhhhhhhhh