When is the subjective case of a personal pronoun used?
The subjective case of a personal pronoun (he, she, we, they, etc.) is used when the pronoun is the subject of a verb: Mary and I had lunch together. We looked at several potential sites. You failed to perform the assigned tasks. He jumped over the obstacles and ran away. She tried to speak over the roar of the crowd. It was the only viable alternative. They didn’t seem to mind the interruption. The subjective case form is also proper for a pronoun that follows a verb form of be (am, is, are, was, were, be, been): It was I who called. The person who volunteered was she. It might have been he who stole the rifle. Was it they who deserted the ship? In informal speech, however, using the subjective case for a pronoun that follows the verb form of be may sound strange or “too proper.” In such instances, the use of the objective case is acceptable: It’s me. That’s her in the brown dress. To avoid this, revise the sentence. I’m Here. She’s the one in the brown dress.
