Grammar Rule

[CarlosPerez]

Can someone explain to me an easy way to use who/whom in a sentence? I have read that it is not very important in grammar usage, but it still bothers me when I use it incorrectly.

 

[Anglika]

Welcome to the forums.

Whom is the accusative form of Who.

Who is coming to the party? "Who" is the subject of "is coming".

Whom do you want to speak to? "Whom" is the object of "speak to".

However, in this day and age it is very common to use "who" as both subject and object, certainly in speech. I am not sure anyone will think the worse of you for not using "whom".

 

[louhevly]

Can someone explain to me an easy way to use who/whom in a sentence? I have read that it is not very important in grammar usage, but it still bothers me when I use it incorrectly.

The old rule was to use "whom" whenever "him" would be correct:
"Whom do you love?", because "You love him".

Modern English, especially modern spoken English, generally dispenses with "whom"; "Who do you love?" is much more colloquial.

In formal English it is still used after prepositions:

"They are the clients with whom we have had the the greatest conflicts and most serious difficulties." In this case you can't use "who".

However, the previous sentence is a bit contrived. Here's a more colloquial variation:
"They are the clients we have had the the most problems with."

For me, "whom" is only used either in very formal writing or after prepositions when displacing the preposition to the right would cause awkwardness.

Lou

 

[CarlosPerez]

Thank you very much for the help and quick reply; it clarified my doubts.