When you want to refer to a husband and his wife, you may not know exactly how to phrase your words in order to refer to them. While there are multiple options you may choose from, not all of them are correct and they aren’t all interchangeable either.
Is It “He And His Wife” Or “Him And His Wife”?
Both “he and his wife” and “him and his wife” are correct depending on their context. If you can replace “he and his wife” with the word “they”, you are using the correct option. If you can replace the phrase “him and his wife” with the word “them”, that’s the phrase for you to use.
Both of these phrases can be correct or incorrect depending on the context in which they are used. In order to determine which phrase you should use, you must determine how the context affects the phrase.
When Should I Use “He And His Wife”?
You should use the phrase “he and his wife” when the context around the phrase implies the couple is doing something, such as an action. If you can use “them” to replace the phrase “he and his wife”, you are correctly using this phrase.
Here are some examples of how to correctly use the phrase “he and his wife”.
- He and his wife were seen playing mini-golf together.
- He and his wife went on vacation for the week.
- He and his wife invited us over for dinner.
- When it came to dinner parties, he and his wife threw the best ones.
- He and his wife always looked perfect.
When Should I Use “Him And His Wife”?
The correct time to use “him and his wife” is when the context around the phrase indicates an action of some sort is being done to the couple by an outside force. If you can replace the phrase with “them” you are using the phrase correctly.
Below are some reference sentences showing correct examples of how to use the phrase “him and his wife”.
- I saw him and his wife while walking.
- I saw him and his wife listed on the bowling schedule.
- A dog jumped on him and his wife.
- I watched him and his wife get honked at while crossing the street.
- She voted to uninvite him and his wife.
Is “He And His Wife” Or “Him And His Wife” Used The Most?
The phrase “he and his wife” is used most according to the Google Ngram Viewer, a handy website for comparing words and phrases over time. The phrase is used vastly more than “him and his wife”.
Up until the start of the 1940s, both phrases were used fairly equally until “he and his wife” began a steady increase in usage that still continues today. Unlike “he and his wife”, the phrase “him and his wife” has maintained its usage over the years, never increasing or decreasing substantially.
Are “He And His Wife” And “Him And His Wife” Used Differently In The UK And The US?
According to the Google Ngram Viewer for the US and the Google Ngram Viewer for the UK, both areas are shown to use the phrases “he and his wife” and “him and his wife” fairly similarly, with “he and his wife” most popularly used.
While both the UK and the US use “he and his wife” more than the other phrase, the US uses both phrases more commonly and consistently than the UK does, as shown by the Google Ngram Viewers.
Is It More Proper To Use “His Wife And Him” And “His Wife And He”?
According to this Google Ngram Viewer which shows word comparisons over time, it is not more proper to use “his wife and him” and “his wife and he”, and it is definitely less popular. The phrases you should use are “him and his wife” and “he and his wife”.
Both the phrase “his wife and him” and the phrase “his wife and he” had two very small periods in the first half of the 1900s, but they never gained popularity. The phrase “he and his wife” has almost always been the most popular choice of phrasing for the past few hundred years.
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