Who or Whom

[etht888]

I did a test on Who or Whom and would like to find out why the answers to these two questions are different even though the sentences look similar?

a) She's the woman ____ I met at Muniza's house.
(the answer given was that I can use either who or whom here)
b) She's the woman ____ interviewed me.
(the answer given was that only one can be use here....which I presume is who and not whom)

[mykwyner]

In the first sentence, many see the pronoun whom as the direct object of the verb met, and therefore should be in the objective case.

The second sentence does not have this problem.

[starfire9]

Hey,I think I may help...In the first sentence,"the woman" is an object in the attribute subordinate clause,so in that case,both who and whom can be accepted.But in the second sentence,"the woman" performed as a subject where "who" can only be used. You could put "the woman" in the subordinate clause to find out if it is a subject or an object.

[Tdol]

Though the first is, as Myke says, objective case, many use 'who', though purists prefer 'whom', which would be more acceptable in formal usage. However, as they say, the second is subject in case, so 'whom' is not a possibility.