| 词组 | it's me |
| 释义 | it's me The venerable argument over the nominative versus the objective case after the verb to be is a memorable part of our linguistic heritage. Nearly everyone has heard it in one form or another. You should be aware that, while the discussion is still going on, its grounds have been shifted: • The choice between "It is I" and "It's me" is a choice not between standard and nonstandard usage but between formal and colloquial styles —Trimmer & McCrimmon 1988 So instead of the old choice between right and wrong we are now choosing a style; it is a choice that is much closer to the reality of usage than the old one was. Copperud 1970, 1980 cites Follett 1966 as prescribing the nominative in constructions where a personal pronoun follows to be, and we do find instances when the nominative is used, but probably for the reason alluded to above by Trimmer & McCrimmon: these constructions tend to be rather formal. • Let me urge you not to forget that it was I... whom you burdened with the job —The Intimate Notebooks of George Jean Nathan, 1932 • It was she who ... paid no longer any attention to religion —William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, 1982 In older English we find the nominative even in speech written for the stage: • Is't he that speaks nothing but Greek or Latine, or English Fustian? —Thomas Shadwell, The Humorists, 1671 • Alas, this is not he whom I expected —Aphra Behn, The Dutch Lover, 1673 But the more relaxed colloquial style could also be found in earlier writing: • It is not me you are in love with —Sir Richard Steele, The Spectator, No. 290, 1 Feb. 1712 Leonard 1929 remarks that Campbell 1776 argued Steele's me was correct because it was governed by the preposition with but that Lowth 1762 had analyzed the construction and concluded that the preposition really governed the omitted relative pronoun—and the sequence he whom in the Aphra Behn example suggests Lowth was on the right track. The main argument, however, is on much broader grounds. From the beginning in the 18th century, there were two camps. The earlier, apparently, is represented by Priestley 1761, who favors accepting it is me on grounds of custom. Priestley mentions that grammarians opposed his position, but he doesn't say who they were. Lowth 1762 heads the partisans of it is I, who clearly had Priestley outnumbered: Baker 1770, Campbell 1776, and Lindley Murray 1795 were on the side of the nominative. And these were the commentators whose preachments were accepted as gospel by the schoolmasters. Priestley's opinion had to wait until Alford 1864 to find a sympathizer. If the great tide of expressed opinion favored it is I, how is it that it is me survived to reach its at least semi-respectable status today? The strongest force operating in favor of it is me is probably that of word position: the pronoun after is is in the usual position for a direct object, and the objective case feels right in that position. It is probably just as simple as that—we find the strength of word order at work on initial whom also, turning it frequently into who, even when it is an object in its clause—but early grammarians knew nothing of the power of word order in English, and they had to find other explanations. One of the more interesting explanations was the "French analogy." This was apparently first set forth by Priestley. In his discussion of the uses of the oblique (Priestley preferred Johnson's oblique to Lowth's objective) cases of the pronoun in place of the nominative, he notices that French has similar constructions, notably c'est moi. Campbell rejected the French analogy out of hand; French, he said, had no influence on English. Now we know that French had indeed had a rather forcible impact on English beginning in 1066 (and even earlier), but as the Middle English that resulted from that collision does not seem to have the modern it is me (it is first attested in the 16th century), we cannot really find its source there. Priestley also asserts that the reason the grammarians won't accept it is me is that it does not match the pattern of Latin (which is why he brought up French). It is probably true that Latin is the theoretical reason for the insistence on the nominative. But besides theory, there was actual usage. Unless all the Restoration playwrights had tin ears or were for some unfathomable reason following an artificial convention, the people of quality they portrayed on the stage did use the nominative: • MARCEL. By Heavens, 'tis she: Vile Strumpet! — Aphra Behn, The Dutch Lover, 1673 • MRS. LOVEIT. Oh, that's he, that's he! —George Eth-erege, The Man of Mode, 1676 • LADY TOUCHWOOD.... but when you found out 'twas I, you turned away —William Congreve, The Double Dealer, 1693 • LYRIC.... If ever the muses had a horse, I am he — George Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, 1698 A number of recent commentators maintain that me is more common than us, them, him, or her after be. This at least sounds likely, but we do not know how it can be proved. We do know that all of the objective pronouns can be found in the construction: • "It's me," I said. "How are you?" she replied—Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 • From the way the president moved his head, I realized that his real audience wasn't us at all —Tip O'Neill with William Novak, Man of the House, 1987 • ... if I were them, I would —George Schultz, Secretary of State, television interview, 6 Dec. 1985 • ... can sometimes act like it's him against the world —Penelope Wang, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 1986 • ... but it's her, the same girl, returned to my life — E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, 1979 Here are some more third-person examples: • ... thinking verily it had been her —Samuel Pepys, diary, 1 Oct. 1666 (in OED) • And if anybody had to feel of the hot water and get burned it was always her —Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest, 1924 • I went out in a hurry hoping it might be her — Mickey Spillane, The Big Kill, 1951 • If I were him I would put in everything now — Ernest Hemingway, Life, 1 Sept. 1952 • ... always looking around ... to see if any of the girls playing in the street was her —Bernard Mala-mud, The Magic Barrel, 1958 We also have a couple of later examples in the pattern of Richard Steele above: • Ah, it is her you love —Charles Reade, Hard Cash, 1863 (in Hall 1873) • For it was not her one hated but the idea of her — Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, 1925 Clearly, both the it is I and it's me patterns are in reputable use and have been for a considerable time. It is I tends to be used in more formal or more stuffy situations; it's me predominates in real and fictional speech and in a more relaxed writing style. Him, her, us, and them may be less common after the verb to be than me is, but they are far from rare and are equally good. For more on the vagaries of pronouns, see between you and I; pronouns; than 1; they, their, them; who, whom 1. |
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