Him vs Her
Him and her are subjective cases of pronouns he and she and used very frequently in English language, both spoken as well as written. Him and Her also happens to be a very popular TV series being aired on BBC about a romantic lazy couple in their twenty’s. However, this article is not about these serial but rather confusion in the minds of students of English language regarding the use of subjective cases him and her of the pronouns he and she when the gender of the pronoun is not clear. Let us take a closer look.
A pronoun that does not specify about the gender of the subject is called a gender neutral pronoun. When you are not sure about the gender of the pronoun, which pronoun do you use, him, or her? What do you tell your peon when you do not want to be disturbed by someone who calls upon you? Do you say, if anybody comes, tell him to come later or you say if anyone comes, tell her to come later? The use of him and her are based upon conventions in many cases as when a gynecologist is always referred to as she and thus the pronoun used is her.
When we say his divorce proved costly, we are surely talking from the perspective of the man. The situation is altogether different as the same divorce becomes her divorce if we are talking about the women involved.
Him vs Her
• The use of him and her in situations when the gender of the pronoun is not clear is based upon conventions, personal preference of the speaker.
• Him and her are subjective cases of the pronouns he and she respectively.