[Grammar] Whom are you looking at?

[oksuz_]

Hi,

1-Whom are you looking at?
2-Who are you looking at?
3-Whom are you looking?

Answer: Jane (I am looking at Jane.)

Which one is grammatical? 2 and 3 seem correct to me.

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

Your teachers may ask you to say Whom are you looking at? If they insist on this, you can choose it on an exam. Nobody actually says it that way though.

 

[TheParser]

1-Whom are you looking AT?

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Oksuz:

My teachers told me to put a question in regular order (subject + verb) in my mind when trying to analyze it.

"You are looking at ____."

1. You know that "at" is a preposition.

2. You know that after a preposition, one always uses the objective form of the pronoun.

3. Thus:

a. Whom do you live with?
b. Whom did you buy those flowers for?
c. Whom are you writing that letter to?


Personally, I try to use "whom" in writing (when I have time to think about the rules). In speech, I would probably say "Who are you voting for?" because that's what I always hear and because "whom" takes more energy to pronounce.

 

[oksuz_]

Thank you all.

What about this sentence?

Whom/Who are you going to Sunday's game with?

If we use "whom" then the sentence should start "with". Is it right?

"who" is proper one to me.

 

[GoesStation]

Thank you all.

What about this sentence?

Whom/Who are you going to Sunday's game with?

If we use "whom" then the sentence should start "with". Is it right?

"who" is proper one to me.

The answer is the same for this sentence as for the other one. Your teachers may expect you to choose whom regardless of whether the sentence begins with "with". Virtually nobody does this in spoken English and very few people would write it.