Plz tell me how to use the word “Whom” in a sentence. I often get confused about when to use “Who” and when to use “whom”. Please help.
Good morning, Bonychat.
(1) You have asked a question that fills dozens of books!
(2) Basically, one uses “who” when it is the subject; one uses “whom” when it is the object.
(3) For example, “Who is the president of the United States?” We know that “who” is the subject because we can erase the word “who” and
replace it with the answer: Barak Obama is the …
(4) Now look at this sentence: ____ do you live with? I should imagine that most native speakers would ask: “Who do you live with?”
And most native speakers would be “wrong.” If you put the question in “regular” order, you see the reason: You (subject) do live with ___?
As you know, “with” is a preposition, so an objective form is supposed to follow: WhoM do you live with? Maybe most native speakers do
not use “whom” because it takes so much effort to pronounce the word.
(5) Well, as I said, this topic cannot be explained in a single post. So let me end with a few examples. Would you use “who” or “whom”? (P.S. These are only my examples, so they are not very good)
(a) ___ do you think is going to win the American presidential election in November?
(b) I do not know ___ you are talking about! I have never met him in my life!
© I don’t care ___ told you that. It is not true!
(d) How dare you! ____ do you think that you are?
The “correct” answers: (a) “who.” Reason: the comment “do you think” is just thrown into the sentence. The basic sentence is “Who is going to …?” Another explanation: That sentence could be reordered as: You do think (that) who is going to …
(b) “whom.” Reason: object of the preposition. That is, “I do not know you are talking ABOUT whom.”
© “who.” Subject of the verb “told.”
(d) “who.” Reason: when you reorder the question, you get “You do think that you are who?” You = subject; are = linking verb; who (subjective complement after a linking verb) is in the nominative (subjective) case. According to the “rules,” we say “It IS I.”
But almost all native speakers break this rule and say “It is me.”
(5) I am sure that you did very well on the quiz. Some teachers give this advice: when you are not sure, just use “who.”
(6) Whenever a who/whom question confuses you, just post it here. Someone will be delighted to check your answer.
Have a nice day!
I quite agree with you James, and I like to see ‘whom’ used correctly, but nowadays one only hears it very seldom. Even native speakers usually just use ‘who’.
I don’t disagree with anything that’s been said, but one case where “whom” still seems to be fairly consistently used is after a preposition. For example, I think most people would say “the man from whom I bought it”, not “the man from who I bought it”.* However, you could also argue that such constructions are grammatically advanced, so are only likely to be used by people who are educated in grammar and who understand the difference.
*Well, actually most people would say “the man (who/that) I bought it from”, but that was not the point of my example!
Exactly
Hi,
There may be those who lament the decline of ‘whom’ but when it it is used after a preposition in speech, it is usually for practical rather than cultural reasons. When ‘whom’ is in a stressed position after a preposition, it is easier to say ‘whom’ rather than ‘who’. It’s worth trying it out loud to test it.
Alan
Unbelievable.
I can not imagine a NES that is not familiar with “whom” form.
I would guess that a majority of native English speakers in the UK do not understand the correct use of “whom”. For whatever reason, the word is dying out.
Even as a native speaker I often pause to think about the correct usage of “who” and “whom”. I think many stick with “who” because “whom” sounds a bit poncy, like a butler answering the door, “whom shall I say is calling” kind of thing. Kudos for a nice, clear explanation.
I think that one really should be “who”, even if one is being formally correct! (Maybe that’s what you meant…)
Hello,
What I wanted to write Mr. Alan wrote. With preposition we use automatically “whom”.
To whom should I hand this letter?
He asked me with whom I sympathize.
My mother, in whom I always confided.
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We can use whom in relative clauses when it is object of the verb. But in spoken English we usually use : who, that or nothing.
1.The man whom I wanted to meet wasn’t in his office.(because the verb is with direct object
2.Here is Dozy with whom we didn’t agree sometimes.
Spoken English:
1.The man I wanted to meet wasn’t in his office.
2. I think the second can be said in this way in spoken English also because it is with preposition +indirect object.
“Who is the president of the United States?”
In this thread, I identified “who” as the subject.
I have just learned at another grammar helpline that I was WRONG.
According to the experts there (and according to MOST sources on the Web), the subject is actually “the president of the United States,” and “who” is the subjective complement: The president of the United States + is + who?