IT'S US WHO + singular or plural?

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waugh  #20238  Sat, 24 Jan 04 05:03 PM

Could anybody help me clear up this nagging doubt:
do you say "it's us who have to apologize" or "it's us who has to apologize" ?
In the singular I know I would say "It's I who have to apologize" and "It's me who has to apologize" but what about the plural pronouns?
Thank you guys for your valued opinion
Waugh

  
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buggah  #20240  Sat, 24 Jan 04 05:20 PM
I think "It's I who have to apologize." and "It's us who have to apologize" are correct and all others aren't.
  
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waugh  #20254  Sat, 24 Jan 04 08:11 PM
Thank you for your quick response.
However, "It's me who has to apologize" must be correct as I read it not ten days ago in a British magazine. If you say "It's I who have to apologize" similarly you should say "it's we who have to apologize", shouldn't you? The plural after "us" would be natural, then why did Nick Hornby, a famous English novelist, use the third person singular in his novel "How To Be Good"? That's what set me thinking. Anyhow, I'll await further comments.
Thanks a million buggah.
  
Guest  #20255  Sat, 24 Jan 04 08:22 PM

Answer in 2 parts:

Many native English speakers don't get this part right: The verb 'to be' always takes the first person - I (not me) and we (not us), so your sentence would start "It's we..."

Conjugating "have"

I have
You have
He has
We have
You have
They have

Because there is more than one of us that should be apologising the sentence would be "It's we who have to apologise". The singular should be "It's I who have to apologise" but you will hear people say "It's I who has to apologise", which based on my logic above, shouldn't be right, but because 'has' means "is obliged to" in this context, it seems to work.

Hope that helps.
  
dinosm  #20273  Sun, 25 Jan 04 01:31 AM
And who says all British magazines speak English correctly? Hmm [^o)]

My way of thinking about this one would be that we use the nominative case ('I', 'he', etc.) when the subordinate clause refers to its subject (sorry, I don't know how to say this in grammatically correct terms), as in 'It is I who have to apologize', and we use the causative case ('me', 'him', etc.) when the subordinate clause refers to its object, as in 'It is her you should take with you.'

Collins English Dictionary says:
Although the nominative case is traditionally required after the verb 'to be', even careful speakers say 'it is me' (or him, her, etc.) rather than 'it is I' in informal contexts.
  
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waugh  #20294  Sun, 25 Jan 04 08:56 AM
Thank you for answering my question (though conjugating the verb "to have" was hardly necessary... )
I am fairly certain that lots of native speakers use the pronouns "me, us, them" in this kind of sentence in colloquy. My question was and still remains, singular or plural.
I know I would say "it's me who has to pay the bills" and "it's I who have to pay the bills",
I would use the former orally and the latter in writing. What about the plural pronouns (object forms)? "It's they who have to pay.." and "it's them who have/has to.."
Thank you for your time.
  
Anonymous  #564731  Thu, 11 Sep 08 01:50 AM
It's we who have to apologize. 
  
CalifJim  #564759  Thu, 11 Sep 08 03:14 AM
Use

It is we who have to apologize.

or It is us who have to apologize.

or We are the ones who have to apologize.

See Re: It's you who is/are answering me if you want to get into the nitty-gritty of this construction.

CJ 

  
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