Liveinjapan  +  461714 Tue, 08 Jan 08 05:29 AM Tom was drunk when I saw him. I know it's okay. When I saw him, Tom was drunk. When I saw Tom, he was drunk. Which is better? Is one of them wrong? Thanks LiJ Liveinjapan Joined on Sun, Feb 4 2007 Osaka, Japan Senior Member 2,280 Please feel free to correct any words I wrote.LiJ

	Hoa Thai  +  461715 Tue, 08 Jan 08 05:35 AM  Liveinjapan wrote: Tom was drunk when I saw him. I know it's okay. When I saw him, Tom was drunk. (I would never say this. It is not right to introduce a pronoun before the noun) When I saw Tom, he was drunk. Which is better? Is one of them wrong? Thanks LiJ Hoa Thai Joined on Mon, Oct 15 2007 Vietnam Contributing Member 1,100 Best Regards - Hoa Thai Nouns, Pronouns

	khoff  +  461719 Tue, 08 Jan 08 05:48 AM When I saw him, Tom was drunk. (I would never say this. It is not right to introduce a pronoun before the noun) Hoa Thai is correct -- if this is the first mention of Tom.  However, if the other people in the conversation are already discussing Tom, it would be okay.  Something like this: "Did anyone see Tom drinking on the night of the accident?" "When I saw him, Tom was already drunk." khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,272 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert) Conversations, Nouns, Pronouns

	Clive  +  461721 Tue, 08 Jan 08 05:55 AM Hi, When I saw him, Tom was drunk.  A potential problem here is that it leaves open the possibility that we are talking about two men rather than just Tom.. eg I saw Paul at the party last night. When I saw him (referring to Paul), Tom was drunk. For that reason, I couldn't introduce Paul to Tom. Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,628 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

	Hoa Thai  +  461726 Tue, 08 Jan 08 06:22 AM  Khoff wrote: "Did anyone see Tom drinking on the night of the accident?" "When I saw him, Tom was already drunk." Hi, I thought of such a scenario too. However, wouldn't it be more natural to say, "When I saw him, he was already drunk"? The use of both pronouns seems better to me. Hoa Thai Nouns, Pronouns

	Delmobile  +  461728 Tue, 08 Jan 08 06:28 AM As a literary trick, though, I think putting the pronoun first might be a possibility. I can imagine a book or short story beginning something like, "When I first met him, Tom Johnson was just about as drunk as it is possible for a healthy young man to be."  It would certainly be clearer with the antecedent first, of course. Delmobile Joined on Wed, Jan 2 2008 Contributing Member 1,082 Nouns, Pronouns

	khoff  +  461737 Tue, 08 Jan 08 07:44 AM I thought of such a scenario too. However, wouldn't it be more natural to say, "When I saw him, he was already drunk"? The use of both pronouns seems better to me. I think one could come up with scenarios for both versions.  You're right, though -- "when I saw him, he was already drunk" would probably be more common.   khoff Nouns, Pronouns