Do You Know Anyone Whom I Could Talk to

Who vs. Whom: How to Use Correctly

• EM
• Manufactures
• Usage
• Pronouns

Summary

Who refers to the subject of a judgement. In formal writing, whom is used for the object, although who may be used instead in everyday usage.

Examples

• Right: Bailiwick: Who called me?

  subject = the person calling

• Correct: Object (Formal): Whom should I call?

  object = the person beingness called

• Correct: Object (Adequate): Who should I call?

To choose betwixt who and whom in formal usage, check whether you are referring to the field of study or the object. A simple trick is to frame a question and reply information technology. If the pronoun in your answer is I, he, she, or they, what you are referring to is the discipline. If your respond is me, him, her, or them, what yous have is the object.

Examples

• Who/whom solved the puzzle starting time?

  She/

  Her

  did (subject). Utilize who.

• Who/whom did you meet yesterday?

  I met

  he

  /him (object). Whom is preferred in formal usage.

Don't incorrectly use whom to refer to the bailiwick.

Case

• The biologist who/whom authored this article has been contacted for description.

Like who and whom, whoever and whosoever refer to the subject, and whomever and whomsoever to the object.

Infographic: Who or whom?

Table of contents

1. Who and whom
2. Who every bit field of study
3. Whom equally object
4. Who instead of whom
5. Incorrect use of whom
6. A fob to go it right
7. Examples from literature
8. Whoever or whomever?
9. Whosoever or whomsoever?

Who and whom

Who and whom are both pronouns used to enquire questions.

Examples

• Who ate all the cookies?
• Who'due south going to bake all the buns?
• Whom should nosotros telephone call?
• With whom are you traveling?

Who and whom are also used in relative clauses, where they appear afterward a noun and help place or describe information technology.

Examples

• The girl who ate all the cookies is at present drinking all the milk.
• I once knew someone who could swallow a sword.
• The man, whom we should never have trusted, drove away with our motorcar.

Who refers to the subject, while whom refers to the object in a sentence (although who tin can replace whom in everyday usage). In this commodity, we discuss when to use which: who or whom.

Who as subject field

Apply who to refer to the subject of a sentence or a clause. (The subject area is whom or what the clause is about.)

Examples

• Who wants ice-cream?
• Who has written this study?
• I want to know who wrote this report and why.
• The person who claims to know everything knows nothing.
• Lulu, who loves to broil, has opened her ain bakery.

Who is often used to ask questions. It refers to the field of study of the question.

Examples

• Who wants to volunteer?

  The sentence is most the person wanting to volunteer. The pronoun who therefore refers to the discipline.

• Who needs a ribbon?
• Who'southward calling at this hour?
• Who was that on the phone?
• Who knows what's going to happen?

As well utilize who as the subject of a relative clause.

Examples

• The man who stole our motorcar has been arrested.

  "Who stole our auto" is a relative clause, the subject of which is "who," which refers to the man.

• My aunt, who is my favorite person in the whole globe, has sent me a postcard.
• Those who live in wooden houses shouldn't throw stones either.
• Do you know everyone who lives in Spain?
• I don't know anyone who would volunteer to run this committee.
• It'southward Poco who'south to blame.
• It was me who ate all the cookies.
• Information technology was my mother who chased away the mountain lion.

Caution

A relative clause is sometimes embedded within the object in a sentence. You should nevertheless apply who instead of whom for the subject of such a clause.

Examples

• I broiled these for my friend Rita, who/whom loves kokosnoot cookies.

  The relative clause "who loves kokosnoot cookies" is embedded in the object. Utilise who, not whom.

• Lulu is throwing a party for a friend of hers who/whom just won an award.
• I dedicate this book to everyone who/whom has supported me all these years.
• I don't know who/whom wrote this report.

Whom as object

Whom is used to refer to the object in a sentence or a clause. (The object is the person affected past the action of the verb.)

Examples

• Whom did you telephone call?
• With whom did you speak?

Whom can refer to the object in a relative clause as well.

Examples

• Your representative, whom I spoke with yesterday, refused to process the refund.

  The discipline of the relative clause "whom I spoke with yesterday" is "I"; the object is "whom" (the person spoken to).

• Anita, whom you nominated for the award, has left the company.

Whom is used every bit the object of a verb.

Examples

• Whom did you call?
• Whom are we planning to promote this year?
• Whom can nosotros contact to go this resolved?

Whom is also used equally the object (or complement) of a preposition like with, to, of, and about.

Examples

• With whom do you lot live?

  Object of the preposition with.

• To whom am I speaking?
• Almost whom are we talking?
• At whom are you targeting this marketing campaign?
• Police force are still searching for the robbers, almost of whom are on the run.

Note

In everyday communication, whom can sound excessively formal and is often replaced by who.

Examples

• Formal: With whom do y'all live?
  Adequate: Who do you alive with?
• Formal: I had no idea that Tumkin, whom I met through a friend, would exist my hubby.
  Adequate: I had no idea that Tumkin, who I met through a friend, would be my hubby.

Who instead of whom

Who can always supersede whom in a sentence. Although who has traditionally been used as the field of study of a clause, information technology is now the preferred selection for the object likewise in everyday usage, where whom can sound a bit pompous. Whom is bars to formal usage and seen mainly in writing rather than speech.

Examples

• Acceptable: Who exercise you lot dearest?

  You may use either who or whom to refer to the object of the verb beloved.

  Formal: Whom do you beloved?
• Acceptable: Who were you talking to?
  Formal: Whom were you talking to?
• Adequate: The woman, who I had never met earlier, turned out to exist my mother.
  Formal: The woman, whom I had never met earlier, turned out to be my mother.
• Acceptable: The plumber, who we somewhen had to call, charged us more than than the price of a new bowl.
  Formal: The plumber, whom we eventually had to telephone call, charged us more than than the toll of a new basin.
• Acceptable: The witnesses, who she finally tracked down, refused to bear witness.
  Formal: The witnesses, whom she finally tracked downwardly, refused to testify.

Thus, who is now no longer merely a subject pronoun just also an object pronoun, with whom reserved for formal usage. Even in formal contexts, whom is used more often with a preposition (near, from, for, at, etc.) than equally the object of a verb.

Examples

• She lived happily with 2 cats and a hubby, about whom she knew nothing.
• He is someone for whom I would exercise annihilation.
• She said she had a hubby in Spain from whom she was now separated.

Equally the object of a verb, who is frequently the more natural selection. Note that using whom instead would exist more formal.

Examples

• Rita, who I've known since childhood, has won an Oscar.
• We are going on holiday with the Sandersons, who we met last year at a beach resort.

Tip

If you are not sure whether to use who or whom, simply use who. Using who instead of whom is never wrong, but you tin can't e'er use whom in place of who.

Incorrect use of whom

Whom is sometimes incorrectly used for the subject in a sentence because information technology is thought to exist the more formal choice. Using whom for the object in a clause is indeed more formal, but it cannot always replace who. Don't use whom to refer to the subject; always utilize who in this position.

Examples

• Incorrect: Whom are you?

  Utilize who, not whom, for the subject.

  Right: Who are you?
• Incorrect: The commentator, whom was an expert in the field, provided additional guidance.

  Use who as the discipline, the person that this clause is near.

  Correct: The commentator, who was an expert in the field, provided additional guidance.
• Incorrect: I take never met anyone whom isn't looking for answers.
  Correct: I have never met anyone who isn't looking for answers.
• Incorrect: The homo, whom I thought was a medico, stole my purse.
  Correct: The human, who I thought was a medico, stole my purse.
• Wrong: My female parent decided whom my friends were.
  Correct: My mother decided who my friends were.

A trick to get it right

To decide whether to use who or whom, a quick trick is to form a question and frame its answer. If the pronoun in the reply is a subject area pronoun (I, he, she, they), what you lot are referring to is the subject field. If the pronoun is an object pronoun (me, him, her, them), what yous have is the object.

Examples

• Right: The daughter who/whom stole Rita'southward greatcoat thinks she is a superhero.

  Form a question: "Who stole the greatcoat?" Frame the answer: "She/

  her

  stole it." Since she works and her doesn't, utilise who, not whom.

• Correct: Who/whom ate the spider?

  "He ate the spider," non "

  Him

  ate the spider." Utilise who, not whom.

• Correct: Who/whom did Lulu invite for dinner?

  "She invited them," not "She invited

  they

  ." Use whom in formal writing.

• Correct: Who/whom was driving the machine?
• Correct: Past who/whom was the car being driven?
• Correct: And to who/whom are you referring?
• Correct: Bystanders, who/whom were interviewed today by the constabulary, said they had seen nothing.
• Correct: Bystanders, who/whom the police interviewed today, said they had seen nothing.

Caution

The "who vs. whom" play tricks does not piece of work in all cases. With anticipatory information technology equally dummy subject field for example, object pronouns are often used to refer to the existent or logical subject.

Examples

• Who/whom is the killer?

  Most people would say "It's him," not "It is he." But what we're referring to is still the subject field: the person that the sentence is nearly. Use who, not whom.

• Who/Whom is at that place?

  The answer would usually exist "Information technology'southward me," not "It is I." Just what we're referring to is still the field of study of the question: use who, not whom.

Examples from literature

Here are some examples that show how who is used for the bailiwick in a sentence, and whom for the object of a verb or preposition.

Examples

• There have to be those who witness the fine art, who love and capeesh what they have been privileged to meet.
• It'due south like the people who believe they'll exist happy if they go and live somewhere else, only who learn it doesn't piece of work that way.
• He looked as if it were he who was receiving a gift; he had that expression of people who marveled at education with the calm certainty that information technology would never be theirs.
• Mayhap it isn't really well-nigh who tin own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with information technology. . . . Maybe it's near who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it.
• There are few people whom I really love, and nonetheless fewer of whom I call up well.
• We don't ask what a woman does; we ask whom she belongs to.
• There was no i to whom he could explain that in club to survive he needed to be at altitude, a Himalayan altitude, so he might breathe. — Anita Desai, The Artist of Disappearance (2011)
• I'm not a teacher: only a fellow-traveller of whom you lot asked the manner.

Whoever or whomever?

In formal writing, use whoever to refer to the subject and whomever as the object of a verb or a preposition.

Examples

• Subject: Whoever made this is a genius.
• Bailiwick: Whoever has the golden ticket wins a centillion dollars.
• Subject: Whoever said life was piece of cake never lived.
• Object: Whomever I asked said they had seen nothing.
• Object: I will speak with whomever I please.
• Object: Whomever Farley trusts betrays him.

Simply as who can always replace whom, whoever can always supercede whomever equally the object in a sentence. In everyday communication, whoever is used for both subject and object.

Examples

• Acceptable: You can invite whoever you like.
  Formal: You tin can invite whomever yous like.
Acceptable: Farmers must exist allowed to trade with whoever they wish.
Formal: Farmers must be allowed to trade with whomever they wish.

Nevertheless, in formal writing and edited prose, the distinction between whoever equally subject and whomever every bit object is generally maintained, as seen in the following examples.

Examples

• Subject: Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn non to be frightened by absurdities.
• Object: Goodbyes breed a sort of distaste for whomever you say farewell to.

Caution

Don't incorrectly utilize whomever to refer to the subject.

Example

• Subject: Whoever/whomever baked this pie deserves an laurels.

After a preposition like to or for, writers oftentimes get whoever and whomever mixed upwards. The subject of a clause is always whoever, non whomever.

Example

• Incorrect: I'm writing this for whomever needs to hear this today.

  The entire clause "whoever/whomever needs to hear this" is the object of the preposition for. The subject of this clause (the person who needs to hear this) is whoever, non whomever.

  I'thou writing this for whoever needs to hear this today.

Tip

If you're confused nigh using whoever or whomever, simply use whoever. Whoever tin can ever replace whomever, but not vice versa.

Whosoever or whomsoever?

Whosoever and whomsoever are formal terms for whoever and whomever. As such, they are almost never used anymore, except in legalese. If you find yourself tempted to use them, perhaps with humorous intent, employ them correctly so as to avoid ridicule. Apply whosoever to refer to the bailiwick, and whomsoever for the object.

Examples

• Subject: Whosoever believes is promised ice-foam.
• Discipline: Let the fleas of a 1000 donkeys infest my enemies, whosoever they may be.
• Object: Nosotros shall accept whomsoever you choose to be king.
• Object: To whomsoever information technology may concern . . .

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Source: https://editorsmanual.com/articles/who-and-whom/

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