No one but him could have told them that the thief was I

Sudh!

Hi. Thanks for your kind word; to come to brass stacks of this question, regarding your example ‘Everyone but him could have told them that the thief was I’, my feeling is that it may not stand the interchangeability test meaningfully; can we say ‘Him but everyone could have told them that thief was I?

Such eternal controversies are still being discussed by the grammarians of the world; why get into the validity of such debatable issues? The true validity is when we can have at least one official example delving into this aspect. Until then, better to steer clear, I suppose
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Thangvietnam
Hi

According to Macmillan dictionary online

but is conjunction when it connects to two clauses
but is a preposition when it connect two nouns

If you read the dictionary correctly, ‘but’ as a preposition joins two nouns but not two object pronouns or a noun and an object pronoun such as ’him’

Can we say ‘him but me is going to the movie? We can’t.

No one but him could have told them that the thief was I

In this case too, ‘him’ is not a nominative noun but an object pronoun.

So it has to be a nominative pronoun 'he' after but
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HI daagh

I have doubt regarding exceptions in the case of pronoun usage


I read here in the previous pots that But, Except ,as ,than etc always are followed by objective case pronoun

And according to this rule this particular question makes sense.

But I have couple of examples where this concept/rule fails

Ruby is tall, but she isn’t as tall as I
We aren't sure who's driving, but it might be she
Here she follows after but and I follows after as both being subjective.

Kindly clarify is this a valid rule/concept

If not whats the valid concept

Thanks
Kani

Kani

Since you're a stickler for rules, the following are comprehensive lessons on pronouns,
which I happened to found in the book "When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People"

(1) Use the subjective case when…
Rule #1a: The pronoun is the subject of the verb.
e.g.: I, we, you, he, she, it, they ran away.
Rule #1b: The pronoun follows a finite form of the verb “to be”
(any form of “to be” except the infinitive form with the
“to” in front of it).
e.g.: They believed that the thief was I, you, he, she.
They believed that the thieves were we, you, they.

(2) Use the objective case when…
Rule #2a: The pronoun is the object of a verb.
e.g.: The search team found me, him, her, it, us, you, them.
Rule #2b: The pronoun is the indirect object of a verb.
e.g.: Bob gave me, him, her, us, you, them all the zucchini
in his garden.
Rule #2c: The pronoun is the subject of an infinitive.
e.g. The boss told me, him, her, us, you, them to do it.
Rule #2d: The pronoun is the object of an infinitive.
e.g.: The judge wanted to believe me, him, her, it, us, you, them.
Rule #2e: The pronoun is the object of a preposition.
e.g.: Put the blanket over me, you, him, her, it, us, them.

(3) Use the possessive case when…
Rule #3a: The pronoun itself is being used to indicate possession.
e.g.: My, your, her, his, our, their toaster.

Moreover, You assumed that every word in English would've only one function or use.
i.e. every word belongs to one class of Parts of Speech (there are eight of them).
For instance, you thought the word "but" is a preposition, but in the examples you cited "but" acts a conjunction.
Also, the word "as" acts a subordinating conjunction by introducing the basis of comparison.

To know more about how the same word can be used as different parts of speech,
please buy a good grammar and learn the basics.

Hi,
in very simple terms, whenever in confusion about I/he/ or his/him/me, use who/whom/whose...
if who fits in, answer will be I/He/She etc..
If whom fits in answer will be him/me/her etc..
lets see here..
No one but who could have told them that the thief was who...
or No one but whom could have told them that the thief was whom...

which is correct..
No one but who could have told them that the thief was who...
so the answer will be No one but he could have told them that the thief was I...

Remember in normal spoken english we may just easily say 'thief was me" but its not correct
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For such questions I practice a simple method- ask your self questions?

Who could say? Of course you will say- "he could say" or if the questions is "Who has done this?- of course you will say "he has done this/that?

So, try to imagine this sentence as- " I know that I (not me) am the thief and only he (not him) could say/know that".

Also, try saying " me was the thief" & "I was the thief"? Which one of them sounds better? of course the second sounds better and first makes almost no sense. I have noticed that apart from grammar logic these questions can also be solved with the help of asking yourself few questions.



Regards
Yash

Hey GMATNinja can you please take this one? Is the OA right?

Hi daagh

You mention that : "hence, no one but he" is the correct version but you chose B for an answer

Furthermore, In the second part of the sentence, shouldn't "Me" , the object pronoun of "I", be more appropriate as the usage is as an object.

thanks

Azhr







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pretty clear. thanks

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