Question

Choosing to use Who and Whom

Answer 1

The words who and whom are both pronouns.Use who when you are referring to the subject of a clause,and whom when you are referring to the object of a clause.If we think about people,the subject of the sentence is the person doing something,and the object of the sentence is having something done to them.e.g.If I step on Sally,then I am the subject and Sally is the object.e.g.I love you,you are the object of my affection,and you is also the object of the sentence (because I am loving you,making me the subject and you the object).Just Whom For example,it is "Whom did you step on?" if you are trying to figure out that I had squished Sally.Similarly,it would be "Whom do I love?" because you are asking about the object -- the target of my love.Just Who For example,"Who loves you?" and "Who stepped on Sally?" In both these cases the one you are asking about is the subject -- the one taking action,not the one being acted upon.Tips:Like whom,the pronoun him ends with m.When you're trying to decide whether to use who or whom,ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him.That's the trick:if you can answer the question being asked withhim,then use whom,and it's easy to remember because they both end with m.For example,if you're trying to ask,"Who (or whom) do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." Himends with an m,so you know to use whom.But if you are trying to ask,"Who (or whom) stepped on Sally?" the answer would be "He stepped on Sally." There's no m,so you know to use who.So that's the quick and dirty trick:if you can't remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence,just remember that him equals whom.