Never end a sentence with one

Today, Granny's topic is prepositions and the pronouns that follow them.

Prepositions are words that show relationships in time, space, or position. They include words such as after, against, until, before, over, under, beside, by, between, below, beyond, near, and many others.

A good grammar book will have lists and lists of prepositions, but these few examples give you the idea. The ones you'll deal with most commonly are with, to, of, and for.


If you have used a preposition and a pronoun follows it, that pronoun must an objective pronoun--me, you, him, her, us, them. And if there are two objects, they must both be objective. Don't make one objective and the other subjective (the subjective pronouns are I, you, he, she, we, they).

Here are examples of sentences with prepositional objects, which is what these pronouns are called.

Do you want to come with him and me?

Is it possible for you and him to meet with Barry next week?

The photographer snapped an embarrasing shot of her and John.

The invitation came only to him and Julie.

Because so many people misuse prepositional objects, speaking or writing correctly may feel awkward at first. Once you do it right a few times, however, you'll be more comfortable--and your grammar will be beyond reproach.

Now you try to choose the right one.

Just between you and (I/me), Henry's a bore.

As I said to (he/him) and Frank, Jake needs to be part of the task force.

She seems to feel that the rest of the staff is against (her/she) and Bill.