0

Which one is syntactically correct and why?

God is us.

God is we.

Improve this question
8
  • 2
    Um.. neither of those is correct.
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 16:26
  • What are you trying to say, exactly? What would the context be?
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 16:30
  • i want to establish a new religion ;D i want to say that god is us and we are god.
    – H M
    May 10, 2013 at 16:39
  • 1
    You could say that, and people would know what you mean, although I do not think that it is proper. I would probably say "We are equivalent to God."
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 16:42
  • 2
    So say "God is us." I don't think it's proper, but people will understand you.
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 16:55

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

If you want to say that, then say God is us, not God is we.

You can say:

God is with us.
God is for us.
God is all around us.

But if you want to reverse the sentences, you must change us to We, which you already know.

Delete the preposition and make us the subject complement as in:

God is us.
We are the X people but The X people are us.

Why do you think the name of the chain store is Toy R Us and not Toys R We? Because Toys R Us is normal, natural, idiomatic spoken English and Toys R We is stilted.

A: Who's there?
B: It's me, your son.
or
C: It's us, the Robinsons.

Say It is I, your son or It is we, the Robinsons, and native Anglophones will wonder why you're hypercorrecting. Okay, my 89-year-old English-teacher stepmother says It is I, but she also says whom a lot.

Grammaticality is not a reasonable criterion for choosing a slogan or a sales pitch. You've gotta hit people where they live and know how to press the right emotional buttons. Use stilted language and people will laugh at you for being a pretentious snob.

Look at the modern world's great painters: Chagall, Picasso, Van Gogh. The colors and shapes they used for people and animals aren't correct. they're creative, artistic, beautiful.

Say what sounds good, not what sounds correct. Then people will listen. That's always been the rule.

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    It has always bothered me that the store was called "Toys R Us" instead of "We."
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 17:26
  • @Daniel: You must've been born at the same time as my stepmother. She's from Ohio & Indiana. People there talk funny. I'm from NJ & NYC. :-)
    – user264
    May 10, 2013 at 17:36
  • 1
    Doubt it. I was born in 1990 :) I'm from Wisconsin though. Maybe we just maintined proper grammar here in the midwest.
    – Daniel
    May 10, 2013 at 17:38
  • 2
    How about We R Toys? ;)
    – WendiKidd
    May 10, 2013 at 21:12
  • @Wendi: It's a matter of focus. They sell toys, not we & not us. Where does a toy store want to be listed in the phone book, under T for toys or W for we? The Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should ad proved how effective advertising that flouted grammatical rules was. Now the food clown avers "I'm lovin' it!" every chance it gets, & billions of idiots mindlessly chant that & Just do it! & Go for it!. Catchy, not meaningful or correct, is effective. What works is good; what fails is forgotten. My language is formal, not ad-speak: I don't write ads. Pragmatic.
    – user264
    May 11, 2013 at 0:19

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .