collective "swoosh" of hundreds of newspaper pages turning) is a
little rule that applies whenever you have a noun or pronoun,
followed by a form of the verb "to be," followed by another noun or
pronoun. "This is she," "the winner is he," "It is I," etc. That
little "is" (or "am," "are," etc.) tells you that the two nouns in
the sentence are one and the same thing. The rule is, whenever you
have this construction, you use the subject pronoun, not the object
pronoun. Who's the tallest? "It is I," not "It is me."
For the half dozen of you still reading: When you throw "it is"
into the Drew Barrymore example above, you're creating a predicate
nominative. That's why the object "whom" takes the form of the
subject, "who." "Drew Barrymore is the one who it is I love."
Next week: You're in the grocery store express lane. You need to
have 10 items or fewer. You have 11, so you remove one. Why, then, do
you have "one less item" and not "one fewer item"? Answer: Because
English is too difficult. I'm moving to France. But I promise I won't
move until after I've explained this in my column next week.
* JUNE CASAGRANDE is a freelance writer. She can be reached at
JuneTCN@aol.com.
