2006-07-07 11:38:13 · 10 answers · asked by Squirl 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
According to the grammar rule books, the proper question should be "Was it they?" because you are using a predicate nominative (as a result of the copula verb) which means that you should choose a pronoun in nominative (subjective) case.
HOWEVER, the rule that decided this was the appropriate thing to do in English was only invented in the 1700s, and there's plenty of evidence that English speakers were saying things like "Was it them?" before that. So I don't really buy into rules all that much when they are invented arbitrarily to try to prevent grammar that people have been using for hundreds of years. In this case, the rule was created to try to make English more like Latin. The person who made the rule (probably Robert Lowth, known for making all kinds of grammar rules) was a fan of Latin and therefore simply tried to make our language more like that language. It didn't take, though, as evidenced by the fact that you are still asking this question today.
Not to mention that, as a native speaker of English, the question "Was it they?" kind of makes me shudder.
My advice to you, then, is do whatever you feel is better, and probably 99% of English speakers won't even question it. The 1% who do might not know the rule well enough to tell you for sure, and anyone who does will probably be a little more understanding of just how arbitrary and weird the rule is.
2006-07-07 18:42:58 · answer #1 · answered by drshorty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They - the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) always takes a subject pronoun. "This is she" when answering the telephone, never this is her. It was he, never it was him. It is I, not it is me. People think the other way is correct because that is just the way you are used to hearing it. Like "I don't feel good" vs "I don't feel well." Good is not correct; it is an adjective, and you need an adverb to modify a verb.
2006-07-07 11:50:04 · answer #2 · answered by Jeannie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since we may say (in proper English) "They who pay the bills", we can extrapolate that to "Was it they who pay the bills who also (do some other thing)?"
In another sense, neither "Was it them" nor "Was it they" would be proper - but rather "Were they they". 8) After all, "They" wouldn't have been an "it".
2006-07-07 11:46:44 · answer #3 · answered by timothyhofstetter 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Was it them?
2006-07-07 11:41:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're accusing a group, I would say "Was it them?"
2006-07-07 11:42:08 · answer #5 · answered by kaloptic 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
was it them
2006-07-07 11:57:23 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
was it them
2006-07-07 11:41:06 · answer #7 · answered by ravencracks 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"was it them?" is true
the word"it" is a placeholdre and has no meaning here. "them" is commen in use.
2006-07-07 13:07:12 · answer #8 · answered by k1saturn 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
was it them, definitely
2006-07-07 11:44:41 · answer #9 · answered by George S 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
was it they
2006-07-07 11:40:43 · answer #10 · answered by Kryztal 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋