The interviewer asked the writer

[Bassim]

I am wondering if my sentences are grammatically correct.

The interviewer asked the writer for whom he wrote his books. He replied he did it for the lonely and unhappy people like himself.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't like the use of "for whom" here. Reading it word by word, I found that I expected "The interview asked the writer for ..." to be followed by something like "a quote" or "a cup of tea"!
I'd use "The interviewer asked the writer who he wrote his books for."

Remove "the" from the second sentence.

 

[GoesStation]

The interviewer asked the writer for whom he wrote his books.

The first time I read that, I took it to mean that the writer had written his books for the interviewer.

 

[andrewg927]

I'm being a devil's advocate here but isn't that a basic grammar error? Shouldn't "whom" always be used with "for"?

 

[GoesStation]

A few retrograde English teachers and uninformed grammar scolds insist that only whom is correct. Gratifyingly for the scolds (else they'd have one less thing to grumble about), nearly every English speaker ignores them.