Them/ they

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Them/ they
Message from mohammad51 posted on 30-11-2019 at 05:19:19 (D | E | F)
Hello
Please could any one help with this question ?
Did we find out if it was a) they b) them whom the police arrested?
a) they
b) them
The page choice is ( they ), so why not ( them) ?
I also agree( if it was they whom the police ..) is likely more fluent to tongue, but what is the grammar rule in this case?

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Edited by lucile83 on 30-11-2019 08:47

Re: Them/ they from gerondif, posted on 30-11-2019 at 19:37:33 (D | E)
Hello
The normal sentence being :

Did we find out if they were the ones whom the police arrested?

Did we find out if it was they whom the police arrested? Would be acceptable though not the most natural.

In Manchester in the seventies, local people used to say : It was me did it! But it as a local colloquialism.

Re: Them/ they from mohammad51, posted on 02-12-2019 at 20:14:48 (D | E)
Hello
Many thanks to you the great teacher ( gerondif)
A very surprising and interesting book I got year ago:
If I was you. It is normally in the hypothetical conditions to say:
If I were you \ If I were on your shoes
( The last, perhaps you say it for Arabic person, immediately he will be furious.
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Let me take the occasion and tell you something else.
At the beginning of US occupation to our country in 2003, one day I went to the gas station and many American soldiers could be there.
One of the American soldiers came out to the drivers and asked " Where is line ?"
I felt admired and said " If this like that, good spinach and good cock.
It is likely a proverb in Arabic also it has a funny meaning but not vulgar.
By the way the word ( spinach) is the same in Arabic. ( I am not sure from which language is borrowed!)
Anyway...
The American soldier approached to my face and said : repeat what you said and being furious
really, I feared and didn't know how to make it right with him
I said " I do not repeat " then the soldiers went a few yards and laughed much.
Also I myself got it then. The word (cock) which in another word ( rooster).
The American never say ( cock) and consider it a vulgar word.
Thank you very much.
Now I practice in the subordinate clauses and their functions in the sentence.
Also the misplaced modifiers can make fun.
My greatest teacher ( Alan Twined ) in the forum ( test your English) From UK.
I do not have contact with now, but years ago from ( 2005 - 2011 ) many things I learned from him.

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