Using "whom of which"

Status
Not open for further replies.

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I was writing an email that said "I’ll also be in a room full of absolute strangers… who are YOUR co-workers, and whom of which might not get my humor… soooooooooooooo… lol."

Is using "whom of which" ok, as I am relating to a group of people? I know "all of whom" would be more correct, but.... Thank you.
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
It's wrong, as "get" is a verb, so you need "who" not "whom."
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Ok. But "who" is more singular. "Whom" is describing the whole group. As one single group. Right?
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
Ok. But "who" is more singular. "Whom" is describing the whole group. As one single group. Right?
Absolutely not. Try googling an explanation of the difference.
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Well both are singular, but to say "who of which" would be more incorrect.
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
Well both are singular, but to say "who of which" would be more incorrect.
I may be missing something, but it doesn't seem correct to me at all. "Who" would be fine; "of which" is unnecessary and doesn't make sense to me.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Ok. But "who" is more singular. "Whom" is describing the whole group. As one single group. Right?

No- who is used for the subject (and often for the object) case, and whom is only used for the object- it's not a question of singular and plural.
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
No- who is used for the subject (and often for the object) case, and whom is only used for the object- it's not a question of singular and plural.
Agreed. But whom is referring to the "group" or the "object". I'm seeing now that the "of which" part was unneccesary. But still, I'm not seeing how it's gramatically incorrect either way.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Well both are singular, but to say "who of which" would be more incorrect.
The word 'who' is followed by a singular verb, but it can refer to more than one person.

Who wants a cake? Jenny and Paul,... Peter... Who/Anybody else?
Who fought alongside British troops at Waterloo? The Prussians.


You are right in saying 'who of which' is not correct. I think that konungursvia was suggesting that the sentence should read ... a room full of absolute strangers… who are YOUR co-workers, and who[STRIKE]m[/STRIKE][STRIKE]of which[/STRIKE] might not get ...
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
Agreed. But whom is referring to the "group" or the "object". I'm seeing now that the "of which" part was unneccesary. But still, I'm not seeing how it's gramatically incorrect either way.
What do you want "of which" to mean in your sentence? I'm simply unable to interpret it.
 

mrsnygren

New member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You cannot say "who of which" or "whom of which." If you believe saying "who of which" is correct, please provide some support for such belief...

The issue at hand is not on the use of "who" or "whom," but rather whether the phrase itself is appropriate grammatically. A more correct phrase would be to say, "all of whom" instead.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
I was writing an email that said "I’ll also be in a room full of absolute strangers… who are YOUR co-workers, and whom of which might not get my humor… soooooooooooooo… lol."

Is using "whom of which" ok, as I am relating to a group of people? I know "all of whom" would be more correct, but.... Thank you.
No, it's wrong. You can say:
" ... and some of whom might not get..."
" ... and of whom some might not get..."
" ... and who might not get ..."
" ... and none of whom might get ..."
"... and all of whom might not get ..."
" ... and most of whom ..."
etc.
...
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I guess I was going after "whom of which" in referring to strangers AND co-workers, being all in one GROUP. lol. Oh well.
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
I guess I was going after "whom of which" in referring to strangers AND co-workers, being all in one GROUP. lol. Oh well.
Aren't strangers and co-workers exactly the same people in this sentence?
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Aren't strangers and co-workers exactly the same people in this sentence?
Yes. whom=co-workers, of which=those strangers (ALL of those strangers). All ONE group. I will accept that there are better ways to put it, but I still don't see how it can be wrong.
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You cannot say "who of which" or "whom of which." If you believe saying "who of which" is correct, please provide some support for such belief...

The issue at hand is not on the use of "who" or "whom," but rather whether the phrase itself is appropriate grammatically. A more correct phrase would be to say, "all of whom" instead.
I win. lol.
 

nygs

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Yes. whom=co-workers, of which=those strangers (ALL of those strangers). All ONE group. I will accept that there are better ways to put it, but I still don't see how it can be wrong.
So whom of those co-workers? ALL of those co-workers.
So whom of those strangers? ALL of those strangers.

Whom of which.... Thanks for the feedback.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
So whom of those co-workers? ALL of those co-workers.
So whom of those strangers? ALL of those strangers.
That looks as if you think the words I have coloured blue are acceptable. They are not.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I was writing an email that said "I’ll also be in a room full of absolute strangers… who are YOUR co-workers, and whom of which might not get my humor… soooooooooooooo… lol."

Is using "whom of which" ok, as I am relating to a group of people? I know "all of whom" would be more correct, but.... Thank you.

I have come up with the following possible variations on your sentence:

- I'll be in a room full of strangers. They are your co-workers and none of them might get my humour.

- I'll be in a room full of strangers. They are your co-workers and some of them might not get my humour.

- I'll be in a room full of strangers who are your co-workers, and who might not get my humour.

I can't find any way of incorporating "of which" or "of whom" whilst keeping the meaning. You explained that you were treating the room full of strangers as one single group, which presumably led you to think that "of which" would relate to "group". However, you did not use the word "group" in the sentence. You used "strangers". These are people and "who" is the appropriate usage.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Wow. What a thread.

Let's see where there is still disagreement.

1. Do you agree that "who" and "whom" can both refer to one person or many people?
2. Do you agree that "who" is used for subjects, and the clause is "who get my humor" requires a subject form of the pronoun, ruling out "whom"?
3. Do you agree that "of whom" works with "some of whom" or "all of whom"?

Please try to explain one more time why you think "of which" belongs in there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top