_They_ is in apposition with _it_, therefore _they_ should be
_them_, in the objective after to be, according to Rule 21. (Repeat the
Rule.)
Be composed, it is me.
I would not act thus, if I were him.
Well may you be afraid; it is him, indeed.
Who do you fancy him to to be?
Whom do men say that I am? Whom say ye that I am?
If it was not him, who do you imagine it to have been?
He supposed it was me; but you knew that it was him.
RULE XXII.
Active-intransitive and passive verbs, the verb _to become_, and other
neuter verbs, have the same case after them as before them, when both
words refer to, and signify, the same thing; as, "_Tom_ struts a
_soldier_;" "_Will_ sneaks a _scrivener_;" "_He_ was called _Cesar_;"
"The _general_ was saluted _emperor_;" "_They_ have become _fools_."
NOTE 1. Active-intransitive verbs sometimes assume a transitive
form, and govern the objective case; as, "_To dream_ a _dream; To
run_ a _race; To walk_ the _horse; To dance_ the _child; To fly_ the
_kite_."
2. According to a usage too common in colloquial style, an agent not
literally the correct one, is employed as the nominative to a
passive verb, which causes the verb to be followed by an _objective_
case without the possibility of supplying before it a preposition:
thus, "_Pitticus_ was offered a large _sum_ by the king;" "_She_ was
promised _them_ (the _jewels_) by her mother;" "_I_ was asked a
_question_.
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