Conjunctions and pronouns

The following is a reader submission.

I found your article on “I am he”, and hoped you could settle variations on that. I believe it is “She and I went to …”. Subjective form, but with first person last. And then “He gave it to her”. But can it ever be the compound “her and me”? I keep thinking that you must always fall back to “us”? —Andy

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the great question. It’s actually a pretty simple answer.

Consider these examples:

1. Bob gave candy to her and me.
2. Bob gave candy to us.

The first sentence implies she received candy and I received candy. The second sentence implies he gave candy to the two of us collectively, candy we should share together.

I hope that helps.

Kim

Email me your grammar questions. I’ll be sure to post the question and answer here.