This is he...

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I tried to find where this had already been addressed, but it proved unsearchable.

Why is is correct to say "This is he," when answering the phone.

If I'm at a party and someone says, "Who's Chris?" should I point and say "That's he." It seems to be the same construction.

Thanks

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Hey, SCoates. Good to see you back again.

Well, once again we are in the grammar mode, I guess.

In this case, "is" is called a linking verb, i.e. it connects the pronoun after it with the subject of the sentence. They are one and the same. I, frankly, think that usage is a little stilted, but it really is the purist form of grammar. Best thing to do, buddy, is to point at someone and say, " That is Chris." That way, you can avoid searching around for the proper pronoun. Razz

Actually, I'm pro choice.

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I always think that if the introductory statement could be foolwed by another clause, then its correct.

Like

"this is my wife, this is she who must be obeyed"

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farmerman, bet you don't know where that expression came from. Razz

Hey, SCoates. Remember, those pronouns are indefinite. That means we are not certain to what or whom they refer.

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Farmerman, semicolon after wife.

Letty, Rumple of the Bailey

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Hey, Scoates! Stop by when you've got more time.

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Not originally, Rog. J.Ryder Haggard's book "She".

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oh pshaw!

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That should be P shaw. Just kidding, of course. Haggard also wrote "King Solomon's Mine.".

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Oops, made a mistake:

That should be H. Rider.

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Just got back from a meeting and I saw that Letty's character had been named. It was adapted from a real world indivisdual
Balobedu Rain, Queen Masalanabo Modjadji-Haggard was fascinated by this story torn from the history of Africa

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That's right, farmer. The character of "She" could even have been cleopatra.

Sorry, SCoates. Did not mean to derail your thread, buddy.

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SHE, according to Haggard himself was a historical series of figures, so powerful of the Balobedu, that she was only adressed through a viseer, and, like a queen ant was keot from all contact with other humans.

Shaka Zulu was known to request her blessings.SHE, in history

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Re: This is he...

SCoates wrote:

I tried to find where this had already been addressed, but it proved unsearchable.

Why is is correct to say "This is he," when answering the phone.

If I'm at a party and someone says, "Who's Chris?" should I point and say "That's he." It seems to be the same construction.

Thanks

It's not correct, SCoates. It's merely one form that is available to English speakers. The prescription that describes this errant 'rule', where some folks confused Latin structure with English structure.

The GCEL states; "Confusing informality with ungrammaticality again, a strong prescriptive tradition says that only [he] is grammatical. ... The mistake here, of course, is to assume that what holds for Latin grammar has to hold for English, ..."

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Right, JTT. I think perhaps SCoates gets the picture. <smile>

farmer, that was the most fascinating read. I know so little about African ancient history. Thanks, buddy.

Well, we can justify this discussion by observing that she is a pronoun of the feminine type. Razz

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Letty wrote:

Actually, I'm pro choice.

I always found that description to ignore the argument. (Talking about abortion) It seems the real question is when the child/embryo receives the right to live. If everyone could agree on that (before or after birth) then there would be no real need to address a woman's freedom of choice.

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SCoates. I was just making a PUN on the proNoun, see?

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Letty wrote:

SCoates. I was just making a PUN on the proNoun, see?

I don't see anything funny about killing babies.

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Let me try and explain again, SCoates. That had NOTHING to do with "killing babies." The essence of my pun was basically that one should be able to choose which pronoun to use in formal or informal English.

Sometime, you need to read the book "A Case of Need", by Michael Crichton who wrote it under the nom de plume, Jeffrey Hudson.

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Letty wrote:

The essence of my pun was basically that one should be able to choose which pronoun to use in formal or informal English.

I recognize a metaphor when i see one.

Anyway... just trying to cause trouble, like usual.

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This is he...

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