Sportscaster Ralph Lawler Knows His English

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It’s rare to be watching TV and hear someone correct another for his or her English usage, and it’s even rarer that I would turn on an L.A. Clippers telecast–except in sheer boredom–but that’s exactly what I did this past night.

Now, Ralph Lawler is the Clippers’ main play-by-play caller, and he has a sidekick whose name I can’t remember, but this sidekick said something to the effect that "the pass between he and so-and-so" was errant, or some such.  Lawler, in his inimitable style, shot back: "Or between him and so-and-so."  Sidekick was forced to respond, "That too." 

Duly corrected.

Anyway, it’s nice to see a sports jock-caster know his English and correct someone on air.

Bottom line, the rule is this:  When using a preposition, it must be followed by something in the objective case, which would be him and not he in this case since sidekick was using a pronoun instead of a noun.  A noun, that is, someone’s name, wouldn’t change between accusative and nominative, but a pronoun would.

Back to the grammar books, sidekick, and hats off to you, Ralph Lawler!

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