Him vs He
He is a pronoun that is used very frequently in English language, both in conversation as well as in text. In fact, the use of pronouns like he, she, they, it, we, etc. make it very easy for us to write and talk in English as otherwise it would be very awkward to use words like man, girl, boy, and so on repeatedly. However, there are many students of English language who remain confused between he and him and make incorrect usage of these words. This article attempts to make clear the usage of him and he, which are the two important cases of this pronoun
Case of a pronoun decides the function of the pronoun in a given sentence. When the pronoun is a subject in the sentence, the subjective case of the pronoun is used. He is the subjective case of the pronoun that is seen when the pronoun performs an action. It is when the pronoun receives an action that its objective case is used, and we see him instead of he in the sentence.
She hit him on his face.
It is clear that she is the subjective case of the pronoun whereas him indicates the person receiving an action from the subjective pronoun.
• The photo was taken by him
• I met him and his wife.
The difficult part is in knowing when to make use of subjective case and when to make use of objective case of a pronoun. This is especially difficult when it is not clear if the pronoun to be used is an object of the verb or a preposition. Take a look at the following examples.
• I know him and his wife
• He and his brother are very talkative.
Him vs He
In normal use, the pronouns he and him do not confuse people as he is used when the pronoun is a subject, and him is used when the pronoun is an object who receives some action. However, in some sentences it is unclear whether the pronoun is the object of the verb or the preposition. In general, a pronoun after a verb is used in an objective case.