Distinguishing Between Him & He

He is a commonly used pronoun in the English language, both in conversation and text. Using pronouns like he, she, they, it, and we makes communication easier, as it would be awkward to consistently use words like man, girl, boy, etc. There is often confusion between the usage of “he” and “him,” leading to incorrect usage of these pronouns. This article aims to clarify the use of “him” and “he,” which are two significant cases of this pronoun.

The case of a pronoun determines its function in a sentence. When the pronoun is a subject in the sentence, the subjective case of the pronoun is used. “He” is the subjective case of the pronoun that is seen when the pronoun performs an action. The objective case of the pronoun is used when the pronoun receives an action, and “him” is used instead of “he” in the sentence.

For example: She hit him on his face. It is evident that “she” is the subjective case of the pronoun, while “him” indicates the person receiving an action from the subjective pronoun.

Key Takeaways

• He is the subjective case of the pronoun, used when the pronoun performs an action.
• Him is the objective case of the pronoun, used when the pronoun receives an action.
• It can be difficult to determine when to use the subjective or objective case of a pronoun, especially when it is unclear if the pronoun is an object of the verb or a preposition.