Was it her or was it she?
As a grammar-loving gamer, one of the most common questions I get asked is: should you say "it was her" or "it was she"? While both phrases are widely used in English, only one is technically the grammatically correct choice. According to prescriptive grammar rules, "it was she" is preferred in formal contexts.
The case for "she"
"She" is a subject pronoun, used when someone is the doer of an action. "Her" is an object pronoun, used when someone is having an action done to them. After a linking verb like "was", the pronoun takes the nominative "subject" form. So since "she" was the one doing the action in this phrase, "she" is considered technically correct.
According to Google‘s Ngram viewer, which displays the frequency of words and phrases in print over time, "it was she" has remained steady for the last two centuries:
| Year | Frequency of "it was she" |
| 1800 | .0000009% |
| 1850 | .0000012% |
| 1900 | .0000011% |
| 1950 | .0000010% |
| 2000 | .0000008% |
So even as language changes over time, this prescriptively "correct" phrase has held on!
The case for "her"
While "it was she" still appears in formal writing and speech, everyday vernacular English has widely adopted "it was her" instead.
Ngram shows this variant skyrocketing in use over the 19th and 20th centuries:
| Year | Frequency of "it was her" |
| 1800 | .00000004% |
| 1850 | .0000009% |
| 1900 | .000009% |
| 1950 | .000019% |
| 2000 | .000029% |
Linguists attribute this to the natural language change process. Casual speech leads, then informal writing reflects those changes.
So in everyday English, especially in North America, "it was her" became widely accepted even though it breaks the technical "subject pronoun after a linking verb" rule.
Expert perspectives
Experts agree both variants are now common:
"It was she" remains dominant in formal written English (The Chicago Manual of Style). However, "it was her" now appears in published literature and speech (Merriam-Webster).
A language reflects how its speakers use it. Since so many have adopted "it was her", both versions are considered standard English usage by most experts today.
When gaming, anything goes!
In online gaming contexts, proper grammar isn‘t a priority – fast communication is! So use whatever phrase feels most comfortable and natural to you.
In competitive matches, we gamers have even developed our own shorthand language full of abbreviations and acronyms. So grammatical precision tends to fall by the wayside in voice chat sessions.
In summary
While the prescriptively "correct" phrase is "it was she", based on expert analysis and data, "it was her" has become an accepted variant in standard English. My advice is:
- Use "it was she" when speaking/writing formally
- Use "it was her" conversationally
- In gaming, do whatever gets your message across fast!
I hope this shed some light on this common grammar debate for my fellow gamers. Drop a comment if you have any other usage questions!
