The correct use of who and whom in questions and statements is still a debate among English teachers who are too careful. However, proper use is still important in formal situations and especially in official writing. After reading this article, you will feel more comfortable distinguishing who and whom correctly, which will make you look more educated and make your speech more thorough.
Step
Method 1 of 1: Using Who and Whom Correctly
Step 1. Understand the difference between who and whom
Both who and whom are relative pronouns. However, who is used as the subject of a sentence or clause, to indicate a person who is doing something (eg he or she). On the other hand, whom is used as the direct or indirect object of a verb or preposition.
Although prepositions (at, by, for, in, with, etc.) often precede whom, this is not always the case. So, the main question is to ask, Who is doing what to whom? (Who did to whom?) The answer is a quick way to determine which pronoun to use in a particular question
Step 2. Use who when referring to the subject of a sentence or clause
- Who brought the paper inside?
- Who talked to you today?
- Who went to dinner?
- Who ate the cake?
- Our job is to determine who qualifies.
Step 3. Use whom when referring to the object of a verb or preposition
- To whom it may concern:
- To whom did you talk today?
- Whom does Sarah love?
Step 4. Ask yourself if the answer to the question is he/she or him/her
If you can answer the question with him/her, use whom. This is easy to remember because they both end in m. If you can answer the question with he/she, use who.
- Example: The correct answer to the question, "To [ who or whom] did the prize go?" is, "It went to him/her". (It is not correct to say "It went to he/she.") The correct pronoun for this question is whom.
- Example: The correct answer to the question, "[ Who or Whom] went to the store?" is, "He/She went to the store." (It is not correct to say "Him/Her went to the store.") The correct pronoun for that question is who.
Step 5. When trying to determine who or whom is correct, simplify the sentence
When other words in a complex sentence confuse you, simplify the sentence so that it only has a basic subject, verb, and object. This simplification helps you get rid of the words in your head to identify the word relationships. For example:
- "Marie Antoinette and her ladies-in-waiting only invited people to their party [ who or whom] they considered to love parties as much as they did." The simplified version in your mind becomes: " whom they plonia."
- "Marie Antoinette prevented her mother from knowing [ who or whom] she invited to the Petit Trianon." The simplified version in your head becomes: "[ who or whom] she invited." Then, you can reorder it to be: "she invited whom", clarifying that he did something to whom (the invitee).
Step 6. The difference between who and whom in spoken language is not as important as in formal written language
It is possible that the difference will one day erode. However, for now, it is important to distinguish between the two in written language.
Tips
- Ask yourself who did what to whom? (who did it to whom)
- Learning who and whom can help with grammar and understanding of other languages. Also, this is a good thing to know if you want to speak English fluently and write proper sentences.
- It's possible to write questions involving who and whom, but the results are almost always odd. If you write, "To which person did the prize go?" since you can't remember that whom is the correct pronoun for the question, you'll avoid grammatical errors, even if the result isn't graceful.
- Here are useful reminders to remember objects and subjects; If you say "I love you", you are the object of your affection and the object of the sentence. I is the subject. "[Whom or Who] do I love?" is "Whom do I love?" because the answer, you, is an object.
- Learning another language can be very helpful. In many languages, using who when you should use whom can cause great confusion. Good examples are German or Spanish.
- CCAE (Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education) recommends always using who to start a sentence.
- When who or whom appears in a clause, the choice depends on whether the pronoun functions as the subject or object of the clause, as well as if the clause itself functions as the subject or object of the complete sentence.
Warning
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There is a lot of confusion and misuse in this topic. Just as if using whom makes others think you're smart, using it wrongly makes you look arrogant. Never use whom as a subject pronoun. This usage is wrong, just like using who when you should use whom. Many people will mistake you for trying to be official.
- "Whom are you?" is wrong. It should be "Who are you?"
- "John is the man whom I expect to be awarded the prize" is false. It should be "John is the man who I expect to be awarded the prize".
