The grammar of English pronouns

A solution is proposed to explain the way personal pronouns enter into coordinations. This involves contrasting 1st person singular with the other pronouns. In essence, 1sg 'subject’ form I is preferred as second member of a coordination (as in John and I are going, rather than *I and John are going) whereas for the other pronouns the 'subject’ form (she, he, we, they) is preferred as first member of a coordination (as in She and John are going, rather than *John and she are going). 1sg also differs in that either I or me can function as copula complement (It was I or It was me) whereas for other pronouns only the non-subject form is acceptable in non-contrastive contexts (It was him, not *It was he). The syntactic implications of these principles are examined. There is also discussion of the role of pronouns in ‘gapping’ constructions.