A Sign of Linguistic Change
This comic has to be at least 60 years old. First panel—actually, “she” is correct, but nobody says it that way anymore.
With a form of “to be,” you have a predicate nominative, so “she.” But it’s where direct objects go in sentences with action verbs, and “her” is what people hear most of the time, so that’s what they say.
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A Tricky “Who”
We grammar curmudgwons tend to like “whom” as the first word in a sentence because it’s often a direct object, even though it doesn’t feel like it. This sentence is different! First word in the second line:
Rearrange the words to put the main clause at the beginning: “You had no idea who was even running…” Yes, this “who” is the subject of the subordinate clause, so it’s correct!
Why We Need “Whom”
Because we have direct object, that’s why! The humor is that he’s questioning who is doing the watching, and who is being watched. IOW, he should say “Who’s watching whom?”. The way it’s written, he’s merely repeating his question without saying what they’re watching.
He Got his “I” Right
A lot of people use “me” when they refer to themselves at the end of a sentence, but that’s sometimes (maybe often) incorrect. If the sentence has an action verb, then use “me” as the direct object. But if you use a linking verb, you have a predicate nominative, which means you should use “I.”
As this fellow did, first panel:
Pros and Cons for April 14, 2023, in Comics Kingdom.com
Maybe he’s not the fool he says he is!
Syntax Humor
Yes, Beetle made a grammar error, using “I” where he should have used “me.” But the other guy made a syntax error, causing the ambiguity that gave us the punchline.
What should he have said to remove the ambiguity?
By the way, even Beetle’s correct grammar is tricky. “Me” isn’t a direct object, but the subject of an infinitive (to dig), which takes the objective case!
