American Diploma · ACT · English: Usage

ACT Pronoun Case: I or Me, Who or Whom

Subject, object and possessive pronouns — pairs like “my sister and I”, “between you and me”, pronouns after than/as, who vs whom and whoever vs whomever — with worked examples and an ACT-style quiz.

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“My friend and me went…”, “between you and I…”, “the man who I met…” — all three sound normal in everyday speech, and all three are wrong in Standard English. Pronoun case questions test whether you choose the subject form, the object form or the possessive form of a pronoun. The ACT likes them because your ear cannot be trusted. This lesson gives you a quick test for every case the exam uses.

What this question type tests

Pronoun case is part of Conventions of Standard English, which is 38–43% of the 40 scored English questions (shared with punctuation, sentence structure and the other usage topics). A pronoun — often with another noun, such as “my sister and I” — is underlined, and the choices offer different forms: I / me / myself / mine, he / him / his, who / whom / whose, whoever / whomever.

When the vertical scan shows the choices changing only the pronoun’s form, ask one question: what job does the pronoun do in its own clause? Does it do the action (subject), receive the action or follow a preposition (object), or own something (possessive)?

The three cases

Subject form (does the action)	Object form (receives the action / after a preposition)	Possessive before a noun	Possessive standing alone	Reflexive
I	me	my	mine	myself
you	you	your	yours	yourself / yourselves
he	him	his	his	himself
she	her	her	hers	herself
it	it	its	its	itself
we	us	our	ours	ourselves
they	them	their	theirs	themselves
who / whoever	whom / whomever	whose	whose	—

Subject form before a verb: ✓ She won. ✓ They were late.
Object form after a verb: ✓ The coach chose him. After a preposition (to, for, with, between, among, about, except, like, from, behind): ✓ for her, with them, between us.
Possessive forms never take an apostrophe: ✓ its roof, theirs, yours, whose idea. ✗ it’s roof, their’s, your’s, who’s idea. (it’s = it is / it has; who’s = who is / who has; they’re = they are.)

Rule 1: Compound pronouns — cover the other person

Most case errors happen when a pronoun is joined to a noun with and or or. Cover the noun and the “and”, then read the pronoun alone. The form that works alone is the form that works in the pair.

✗ Wrong	Test (cover the other person)	✓ Right
My sister and me cooked dinner.	Me cooked dinner? ✗	My sister and I cooked dinner.
The teacher thanked Hana and I.	The teacher thanked I? ✗	The teacher thanked Hana and me.
The letter was for my parents and we.	for we? ✗	The letter was for my parents and us.
Him and his cousin opened a shop.	Him opened a shop? ✗	He and his cousin opened a shop.
Between you and I, the plan won’t work.	between … I? (preposition → object)	Between you and me, the plan won’t work.

“Between you and I” sounds polite and formal, which is exactly why it is a trap. Between is a preposition, so both pronouns after it must be object forms: between you and me, between him and her, between us and them.

Pronoun + noun (we students / us students): drop the noun and test. ✓ We students organised the fair (We organised…). ✓ The principal praised us students (praised us). ✗ Us students organised the fair.

Appositives: when a pronoun renames a noun, it takes the case of that noun. ✓ Two members, Laila and I, gave the speech (subject). ✓ The judges chose two members, Laila and me (object of “chose”).

غطّي الاسم التاني

لو قدامك my sister and I/me، غطّي my sister and واقرأ الضمير لوحده. لو الجملة بقت "Me cooked dinner" يبقى غلط، والصح I. وبعد حروف الجر زي between و for و with دايمًا me / him / her / us / them. يعني between you and me مش between you and I.

Rule 2: Reflexive pronouns (myself, himself…)

A reflexive pronoun is correct only in two situations: (1) the subject does the action to or for itself, (2) for emphasis right after the noun. It can never replace I or me just because it sounds more polite.

✗ Wrong	✓ Right	Why
Karim and myself fixed the printer.	Karim and I fixed the printer.	subject needed
Please send the forms to Mona or myself.	Please send the forms to Mona or me.	object after “to”
—	I taught myself to swim.	subject = object (I … myself)
—	The minister herself opened the bridge.	emphasis
They built the cabin theirselves.	They built the cabin themselves.	“theirselves” and “hisself” are not Standard English

Rule 3: After than and as — finish the sentence

After than or as in a comparison, a verb is usually missing. Add it back, and the correct pronoun becomes clear.

✓ My brother is taller than I (am). ✗ My brother is taller than me am.
✓ Nobody in the class worked as hard as she (did).
✓ The news surprised my father more than (it surprised) me.
The meaning can change: “Ahmed likes Omar more than I” = more than I like Omar. “Ahmed likes Omar more than me” = more than he likes me.

On the ACT the safest answer is often the version that writes the verb in: “than I am”, “as she did”. If a choice gives “than me did” or “than myself”, it is wrong.

Rule 4: Possessive before an -ing word

When a pronoun comes right before a gerund (an -ing word used as a noun), Standard English prefers the possessive form, because the gerund is a thing. ✓ We were surprised by his winning the race. ✓ The coach did not like our arriving late. ✗ The coach did not like us arriving late. (The coach does not dislike *us*; he dislikes the arriving late.)

Rule 5: Who or whom? The he/him test

Who is a subject form (like he); whom is an object form (like him). Both end in -m: whom = him. To decide:

Take the clause that starts with who/whom and stop at its end.
Rearrange it into a short sentence and put he or him in place of who/whom.
If he fits → who. If him fits → whom.

Sentence	Test	✓ Answer
The engineer ___ designed the bridge retired.	he designed the bridge	who
The engineer ___ the city hired retired.	the city hired him	whom
To ___ did you give the key?	you gave the key to him	whom
She is the author ___ I wrote to.	I wrote to him	whom (or: to whom I wrote)
___ is calling?	he is calling	who

Right after a preposition, always whom: ✓ the friend with whom I travelled; ✓ the people for whom the hospital was built; ✗ to who, for who, with who.
Ignore “I think / she believes / they say” inside the clause: “The girl ___ I think won the prize” → cross out “I think” → she won the prize → who. This is the most common who/whom trap.
Whose shows possession and is followed by a noun: the farmer whose land flooded. Who’s = who is / who has.
Which is for things and animals, never for people: ✗ the doctor which helped us ✓ the doctor who helped us.

Rule 6: Whoever or whomever?

Whoever/whomever begins a clause, and its case depends only on its job inside that clause — not on the word before it. A preposition in front of the clause does not make it “whomever” automatically.

Sentence	Test inside the clause	✓ Answer
Give the prize to ___ finishes first.	he finishes first (the whole clause is the object of “to”)	whoever
Invite ___ you like.	you like him	whomever
___ wins the vote will lead the club.	he wins the vote	whoever
The coach will pick ___ she trusts most.	she trusts him most	whomever

Who ولا Whom؟

حوّل الجملة الصغيرة لجملة عادية وجرّب he و him. لو he مناسبة استخدم who، ولو him مناسبة استخدم whom (الاتنين آخرهم m). وبعد حرف جر على طول (to / with / for) دايمًا whom. لكن whoever و whomever بتتحدد من جملتها هي بس: to whoever finishes first لأن he finishes.

Worked examples

Each example is part of an ACT-style essay. The underlined portion is shown in bold.

Worked example 1. “When the concert was cancelled, the manager gave the last two refund vouchers to my cousin and I.”

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) me
C) myself
D) mine

Answer: B.

B is correct. Cover “my cousin and”: the manager gave the vouchers “to me”. After the preposition “to”, the object form is needed.
A is the subject form — the “sounds polite” trap.
C is reflexive, but the subject (the manager) is not the person receiving the vouchers.
D is a possessive (“mine” = my thing), which makes no sense here.

Worked example 2. “The scientist who the committee selected for the award had studied coral reefs in the Red Sea for twenty years.”

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) whom
C) whose
D) which

Answer: B.

B is correct. Make the clause a sentence: “the committee selected him” → him = whom. The scientist is the object of “selected”.
A is the subject form; it would only fit if the scientist did the selecting.
C shows possession and needs a noun after it (whose research…).
D is used for things, not people.

Worked example 3. “My grandmother is seventy-four, but on our morning walks along the Corniche she still moves faster than me.”

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) than I do
C) then I do
D) than myself

Answer: B.

B is correct. Finish the comparison: she moves faster than I (move). Writing the verb in — “than I do” — makes the subject form necessary and clear.
A uses the object form where the sentence needs a subject for the missing verb.
C uses “then”, a time word, instead of “than”, the comparison word.
D uses a reflexive pronoun without a matching subject.

Worked example 4. “The school will publish the winning story in its magazine, and the prize will go to whomever writes the most original ending.”

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) whoever
C) whom
D) themselves

Answer: B.

B is correct. Look only inside the clause: “___ writes the most original ending” → he writes → whoever. The whole clause is the object of “to”, but whoever is the subject of “writes”.
A is the classic trap: students see the preposition “to” and choose the object form.
C is also an object form, and “to whom writes” is not a sentence.
D is a reflexive pronoun with nothing to refer back to.

Classic traps

Sounds-polite trap: “between you and I”, “for Mona and I”, “Karim and myself” — all wrong.
Pronoun at the start of a pair: “Him and his brother went…” → He and his brother went…
Than me / as him where a verb is understood: write the verb in and the subject form appears (than I am).
Who after a preposition: to who, with who → to whom, with whom.
I think / she said inside the clause: cross it out before the he/him test (the girl who I think won…).
Whomever after a preposition: the case comes from the clause (to whoever finishes), not from “to”.
Apostrophe possessives: it’s, their’s, who’s, your’s are never possessive forms.

Fast strategy for test day

Pair of pronouns or names? Cover the other person and read the pronoun alone.
After a preposition (between, for, to, with, among, except)? Object form: me, him, her, us, them, whom.
who/whom/whoever/whomever? Rewrite the clause with he/him. he → who; him → whom.
than / as? Add the missing verb in your head.
Reflexive (myself) only if the same person is already the subject, or for emphasis.

Practice

Two ACT-style essays with 5 questions each, all on pronoun case. The numbers in brackets match the question numbers.

Remember

Subject forms (I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever) do the action; object forms (me, him, her, us, them, whom, whomever) receive it or follow a preposition.
In a pair, cover the other person: “Karim and I went”, “for Karim and me”, “between you and me”.
After than/as, add the missing verb: taller than I (am).
who/whom: he → who, him → whom; ignore “I think” inside the clause. whoever/whomever: test inside its own clause only.
Possessives have no apostrophe (its, whose, theirs); reflexives (myself) only when the subject acts on itself or for emphasis.

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