whom

[erihime]

Hello everybody.

I have a question concerning the relative pronoun, 'whom'.

When I combine the following two sentences,

1. These are the people.
2. I went to school with them

1st question: These are the people whom I went to school with. This is correct, isn't it?

2nd question: I can't replace 'whiom' with 'who', can I?

3rd question: Can I omit 'whom'?

4th question: I'm going to make a slight change to the sentence 2

sentence 2: We went to school together.

Now, can I combine the sentence 1 and 2?

5th question: Who did you speak to?
Whom did you speak to?
I guess both of them are correct. But strictly speaking,
'who' isn't correct, is it?

[shnarkle]

Surely the answer to point number 1 is : these are the people with whom I went to school.

Shnarkle.

[eflnow]

answer to question 1 : In formal English the preposition is placed before the relative pronoun "whom"- ...the people with whom I went to school.

answer to question 2: In spoken English we normally use who or that instead of "whom". In this case, we place the preposition at the end of the clause - "...the people who I went to school with."

answer to question 3: the relative pronoun (whom) can be omitted when it is not the subject of the relative clause which it introduces: i.e. the subject of the verb "went" = I, therefore "whom" can be omitted

answer to 4: the two sentences can be combined if they have either a common subject or a common object. Try it and see what happens.
answer to 5: see n.1

[erihime]

Thanks, everybody.

I found an article, which tells us to use 'who' placing the preposition at the end and 'whom' preceded by the preposition. However, it is mentioned that the usage of 'whom' is getting obsolete.

I really appreciate your help!

erihime.

[curmudgeon]

You could say;

These are the people that I went to school with.

You are right who is incorrect

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by erihime

Thanks, everybody.

I found an article, which tells us to use 'who' placing the preposition at the end and 'whom' preceded by the preposition. However, it is mentioned that the usage of 'whom' is getting obsolete.

I really appreciate your help!

erihime.

People have been predicting the demise of whom for 100 years; yet it lives.

I prefer "whom" because it is correct; "who" is OK in informal use. Your best bet, in that sentence, is to leave both of them out. "people I went to school with" or curmudgeon's "that I went to school with".

[erihime]

Thanks everybody. I am so glad to have found this site.

Another question popped up.

'This is the professor I rely on very much.'

If I force to put 'whom', will this sentence become

'This is the professoor whom I rely on very much? '

I don't think I can separate 'rely' and 'on'...

If there are phrasal verbs that can't be separated in this situation, we just know by listening the sound of sentences?

Thanks again for your help!

erihime

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by erihime

Thanks everybody. I am so glad to have found this site.

Another question popped up.

'This is the professor I rely on very much.'

If I force to put 'whom', will this sentence become

'This is the professoor whom I rely on very much? '

I don't think I can separate 'rely' and 'on'...

If there are phrasal verbs that can't be separated in this situation, we just know by listening the sound of sentences?

Thanks again for your help!

erihime

If you must add "whom" you could say "This is the professor on whom I rely."
IMO, "rely on" is not a phrasal verb. It has no special idiomatic meaning that results from the combination.

[erihime]

Thanks, thanks, thanks, Mike.

It really sound funny when I separated 'rely' and 'on'.
And thanks for telling me it is not a phrasal verb. Somehow I just thought it is.

How come English is this difficult? Maybe so are other languages...

[blueabell2go]

You could also say:

"This is the professor I very much rely on."