[Grammar] He is the man whom/that Jane was referring to.

Status
Not open for further replies.

wotcha

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
1. He is the man whom Jane was referring to.

2, He is the mans that Jane was referring to.

3. He is the man Jane was referring to.



Sentence 1 is grammatical of course and I wonder about sentence 2 and 3.

Is it possible to omit objective relative pronoun in 2 and 3?
 

atabitaraf

Key Member
Joined
May 19, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
1. He is the man whom Jane was referring to.

2, He is the man that Jane was referring to.

3. He is the man Jane was referring to.



Sentence 1 is grammatical of course and I wonder about sentence 2 and 3.

Is it possible to omit objective relative pronoun in 2 and 3?
Not a teacher here,
Yes, all of them are possible, plus: He is the man to whom Jane was referring.
You can do this only for 'whom'.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
+
He is the man who Jane was referring to.
 

~Mav~

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Europe
Current Location
Europe
1. He is the man whom Jane was referring to.
[...]
Sentence 1 is grammatical of course...
But is it really? :roll: I am almost certain that purists will insist on using "whom" only after prepositions. That is, it should be either "to whom..." or "who ... to", but NOT "whom ... to".
 

atabitaraf

Key Member
Joined
May 19, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
But is it really? :roll: I am almost certain that purists will insist on using "whom" only after prepositions. That is, it should be either "to whom..." or "who ... to", but NOT "whom ... to".
Not a teacher here,

When it refers to a subject you can only use 'who' and when it refers to an object you can use either 'who' or 'whom.' Although the use of 'whom' is considered as an old and very formal way and it is not usually used in everyday speaking. You can use 'whom' in formal writing or speech but only with the objective use. (for more)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top