who/whom

[Unregistered]

When to use who and whom? Please explain.


Many I ask whom I am talking to on the phone?

Who are you talking to?

[rhapsody_08]

When to use who and whom? Please explain.


Many I ask whom I am talking to on the phone?

Who are you talking to?

Hi!...

The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that the choice must be determined by the grammar of the clause within which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause: Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed. Whom is the objective form: Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance?

This method of selecting the appropriate form is generally characteristic of formal writing and is usually followed in edited prose.
In most speech and writing, however, since who or whom often occurs at the beginning of the sentence or clause, there is a strong tendency to choose who no matter what its function. Even in edited prose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom, regardless of grammatical function. Only when it directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who: Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request.
In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare. Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the ?correct? To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to? However, the notion that whom is somehow more ?correct? or elegant than who leads some speakers to hypercorrect uses of whom: Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office. .......

[baqarah131]

It doesn't matter who you're talking to,
or who you're learning from,
or who you're talking with,
or who a paragraph was written by,

YOU DON'T NEED WHOM!

Whom is part of the history of our language. There are many, many important things for you to learn.

success to you!
edward

[Anglika]

It doesn't matter who you're talking to,
or who you're learning from,
or who you're talking with,
or who a paragraph was written by,

YOU DON'T NEED WHOM!

Whom is part of the history of our language. There are many, many important things for you to learn.

success to you!
edward

This is your personal opinion. There are other views that are as valid, and if people are going to be reading English, it is only sensible to know the grammatical structures. It is not really helpful to tell them they do not need to know them.

[baqarah131]

It is helpful to indicate priorities. Many learners of English are focusing on trivia at the expense of really important structures, materials, idioms, etc. I have my own opinions about what is helpful.
edward

This is your personal opinion. There are other views that are as valid, and if people are going to be reading English, it is only sensible to know the grammatical structures. It is not really helpful to tell them they do not need to know them.

[Anglika]

That is your personal opinion.