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Which one is correct?

I have heard that people tend to say: This is them/they.

But according to grammar rules it should be: These are them/they.

user1425
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  • Possible duplicate of "Nobody but he/him was present"?. The question makes perfect sense and is hardly off-topic, but it's one that gets asked perhaps once a month. – Andrew Dec 02 '18 at 15:59
  • It's not about NOMINATIVE CASE versus OBJECTIVE CASE. It's about "THIS IS" versus "THESE ARE" (THEM versus THEY are not important really in my question) – user1425 Dec 05 '18 at 20:34
  • It's a pity the ones having voted don't see the issue. – user1425 Dec 05 '18 at 20:35
  • Again, this kind of question is asked very frequently. Perhaps it's not an exact duplicate of the one I link, but a simple search should reveal many similar questions, – Andrew Dec 05 '18 at 22:19
  • show me please a similar question. I am eager to see it. – user1425 Dec 11 '18 at 10:38
  • Seems like you still don't see what my question addresses. It addresses demonstrative pronouns, your link deals with personal and objective ones. – user1425 Dec 11 '18 at 10:39
  • https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/2790/grammatical-number-agreement-in-a-complex-phrase-using-singular-they Again, a simple search would have answered your own question with much less fuss. – Andrew Dec 11 '18 at 10:47
  • Refer, then, to my answer: "they" and "them" can be either singular or plural in English. As a result, either "is" or "are" could be correct, depending on the referent of "they". If you had used anything else in place of "they/them", only one of the two forms would be correct, but the grammatical number of "they" is not fixed, and unlike in the second person (as with "you"), verbs have different singular and plural forms in the third person. – Darael Dec 11 '18 at 16:30
  • Where is the reference towards the correctness of the combination "this is them" and "these are them". Maybe you imply it, but it is not stated explicitly. In my question I openly ask about it. – user1425 Dec 11 '18 at 17:21
  • Darael, you answer is great. I up-voted it. – user1425 Dec 11 '18 at 17:22

1 Answers1

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"These are they" is usually correct, though "these are them" would be accepted by all but the most pedantic. This is, as you note, in accordance with the normal rules whereby a plural noun or pronoun takes a plural verb-form.

That's true for the common case, when "they" refers to a group of things or people. However, "they" is a little more complex than most other pronouns, in that (like "you") it can be either singular or plural. When using singular "they", as a non-gendered pronoun for a single person, most native speakers would prefer "this is them". Again, "this is they" might be more strictly grammatical, just as "this is he" is more strictly correct than "this is him", but in everyday language that distinction doesn't matter.

Darael
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