Can you help me with this?
Are both sentences correct?
It is me who am your teacher
Or
It is I who am your teacher
1 Answer
Only the latter is correct. It "follows the general rules for relative clauses, with the relative pronoun who being construed as 1st person singular by virtue of its anaphoric relation to I" (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002: p. 507).
If you want to use is, the pronoun has to be accusative. This is the case of 3rd person override in cleft relatives (ibid.). And as Michael Harvey mentioned in the comment, this is more common in Present-Day English:
It is me who is your teacher
answered Jul 27, 2020 at 13:13
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Do we really help learners by talking about anaphoric relations and ibids? Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 14:53
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@Ronald Sole Why is it a problem for one to be specific when citing? A learner could refer to this page if they want to and that helps provide better understanding and strengthens my answer. Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 21:07
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If we follow the entirety of the Michael Harvey comment under the question, the final sentence is strange. To paraphrase the comment, "Ask yourself: Do you say
I isorme is? Well, I would say neither. But if we use a different pronoun, it would behe is(the subjective case) nothim is(the objective case). Despite both of those tests,it is me who is(the objective case) is being used here. I actually suspect this is like the answer to Who is at the door? Strictly speaking, it should be It is I, but pragmatically, in modern English, it's It is me. Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 22:00
I amorme am?.It is I who am your teacher, but this is very old fashioned.It is me who is your teacheris more likely.