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"He and Jack" or "Him and Jack"
I've got a sentence beginning "He and Jack were looking for just the right kind of house". Is it correct to use "He and Jack", or should it be "Him and Jack"?
Comments
An office manager had money problems & had to fire an employee, either Jack or Jill... He thought he'd fire the employee who came late to work the next morning. Well, both employees came to work very early.
Then the manager thought he would catch the first one who took a coffee break. Unfortunately, neither employee took a coffee break.
Then the manager decided to see who took the longest lunch break - strangely, neither Jack nor Jill took a lunch break that day, they both ate at their desk.
Then the manager thought he'd wait & see who would leave work the earliest, and both employees stayed after closing.
Jill finally went to the coat rack & the manager went up to her & said, "Jill, I have a terrible problem. I don't know whether to lay you or Jack off."
Jill said, "Well, you'd better jack off, because I'm late for my bus."
:D
I agree that the sentence feels a bit ugly. The reason for structuring it that way is it's the second sentence in the story and I'm introducing a second character by name.
"Gordon enjoyed driving along country lanes in the spring when the drabness of winter had finally lost it's hold. He and Jack were looking for just the right kind of house one with lots of privacy, shielded from prying neighbours."
Maybe this is a better way of writing it:
Gordon enjoyed driving along country lanes in the spring when the drabness of winter had finally lost it's hold. Along with his partner, Jack, he was looking for just the right kind of house one with lots of privacy, shielded from prying neighbours.
and winter had finally lost its hold (not it's, sorry).
Sorry, iPad won't let me quote.
I hope you don't mind but I have a similar issue in a short story; I was going to post about it.
"The beast paid no heed to the names whilst he could run free and slake his wild hunger - as he had for an eternity. But this woman had exhausted even he with her desires and demands."
Word doesn't like "even he", it wants "even him" but that doesn't ring true to me. And now it's bugging me. The story has a gothic Victorian setting so the language needs to be correct.
Yeah, I spotted that later!
Yep. It's the easiest way to tell, take out what doesn't need to be there, and then put back the bits you want when you know which is correct.
Just thought I'd add my penneth . . .
Lily, as you want to emphasise he/him, could you substitute a powerful noun instead, e.g. 'This woman had exhausted even this monstrous entity...' (sorry, I couldn't think of anything clever!)?
Word doesn't like "even he", it wants "even him" but that doesn't ring true to me. And now it's bugging me. The story has a gothic Victorian setting so the language needs to be correct.[/quote]
If you wanted to use "even he", you'd have to re-jig the sentence to something like "But even he could not keep up with this woman's desires and demands." "Keep up" is very weak phrasing but it's all I could come up with off the top of my head.
Incidentally, "slake" is usually only applied to thirst. You can sate hunger, or satisfy it, or even satiate it, but slake doesn't quite fit.
Thanks for the suggestion, it's actually a short story and the whole first paragraph is:
"Gordon enjoyed driving along country lanes in the spring when the drabness of winter had finally lost it's hold. Along with his partner, Jack, he was looking for just the right kind of house one with lots of privacy, shielded from prying neighbours. They had a cover story, but the fewer people who saw them going into a house the better. Neither of them wanted to do time in prison again."
I can't tell you any more about the story than that!
No, sex. So his hunger is a desire to be allayed. Perhaps 'satiate' might be a better word. BTW, the drinking of blood, and other fluids, comes later :-)
All points taken on board - thank you; really appreciate it. I shall completely rewrite that paragraph. Cheers!