"only US" or "only WE"?

[Polly]

I'm sure this will sound trivial to most of you, but yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and was assailed by doubt at some point...
What form is (more) correct?

Only US/ Only WE can settle the problem

Thank you very much!

[Jamie (K)]

It should be, "Only we can settle the problem," because the pronoun here is the subject and should be in the subject form. Take out "only", and you can see that, "Us can settle the problem," is definitely wrong.

[Polly]

Thank you Jamie!
I followed the very same line of reasoning, but I suspected that the peculiar emphatic construction introduced by "only" could imply the use of a personal pronoun complement.
Thank you very much again for your help!

[Conchita]

To emphasize the subject a bit more, you could also turn the sentence around and say: We are the only ones who can settle the problem.

Moreover, the phrase 'it's (only) us' is also commonly used. Likewise, in everyday English you would say 'it's me' -- 'it's I' would sound far too pedantic and stuffy. It's one of those cases where even grammar experts advise breaking the rule.

[Jamie (K)]

[Alan]

Hi Jamie,

You said:

[Polly]

Thank you Conchita, Jamie and Alan!
Your remarks are really precious.

Happy Easter (or Buona Pasqua, if you prefer!)