“(Her and John), (John and her), or (She and John) went to the banquet with their parents.” Which phrase in parentheses is the correct phrase to complete the sentence?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct phrase to complete the sentence is “She and John.”
Here’s the explanation:
In English, the subject pronoun “she” is used when referring to a female subject, while “her” is used as an object pronoun or a possessive pronoun. In this case, “she” is functioning as a subject of the sentence, not as an object or possessive.
Subject-Verb Agreement:
In English grammar, when forming a subject noun phrase with pronouns, we follow a specific rule of subject pronoun order. This means that when two people are involved in the subject of a sentence, the correct order is to list the person who comes first in the sentence or who has a higher status (for example, “she” or “he” before “I” or “me”). The phrase “She and John” correctly places “she” first, followed by “John.”
Subject Pronouns:
- “She” is a subject pronoun. It is used as the subject of the sentence, answering the question “Who went to the banquet?”
- “John” is a noun, and when placed alongside “she” in the sentence, it is still part of the subject but doesn’t affect the choice of subject pronoun.
Why Not “Her” or “Her and John”?
- “Her” is an object pronoun, which means it’s used when the pronoun is the object of a verb or preposition, not the subject. In your sentence, “her” would be grammatically incorrect because it would be attempting to function as the subject.
- “Her and John” would be incorrect for the same reason. The word “her” cannot be used in the subject position.
Thus, “She and John went to the banquet with their parents” is the correct phrasing. The subject pronoun “She” properly indicates the subject of the sentence, and “John” is included as part of the compound subject.