[Grammar] The woman whom John saw on the subway was very pretty.

[Nanu1]

The woman whom John saw on the subway was very pretty. Here, the relative pronoun “whom” is followed by the proper noun “John”. But here is my question: the relative pronoun(whom) is followed by the proper noun(John). Is it a passive voice? If it is passive then it's active voice: the proper noun(John) follows the relative pronoun(whom). So, the relative pronoun “whom” is followed by the proper noun “John”, that is " John Whom", am I right? I am totally confused with the phrase "followed by".

 

[Rover_KE]

Nanu, please note that I have changed your thread title.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'

 

[TheParser]

The woman whom John saw on the subway was very pretty.

​NOT A TEACHER

Hi,

1. I wanted to commend you on wanting to know about the word "whom." I hope that you use it, at least in writing. Here in the (United) States, the word is seldom used. Even most newspapers will have a headline such as "Who do you like for president?" (Instead of the correct "whom.")

2. My teachers taught me to simply mentally rearrange the words in order to know whether I should use "who" or "whom."

a. (Do this mentally -- or on paper if it is easier) "The woman was very pretty." What woman? "John saw ____ on the subway." As you can see, the word in the space follows the verb "saw." So it needs the objective case. Thus: "John saw whom on the subway." (Yes, probably most Americans would say "who" in that sentence. For one reason, it takes more effort to say "whom" than to say "who." For another, most people do not know the rule.)

 

[GoesStation]

It's the same in the UK. I would not encourage learners to use a form that is now rarely used by native speakers.

I agree. It's not logical to assert that a form that 99% of writers would use is incorrect. The natural conclusion is that the assertion is incorrect. While whom is the objective case usually used immediately after a preposition, the objective case in most other positions is who.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Whom is the favorite grandfather you hate to visit because he's failing fast.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I agree. It's not logical to assert that a form that 99% of writers would use is incorrect. The natural conclusion is that the assertion is incorrect. While whom is the objective case usually used immediately after a preposition, the objective case in most other positions is who.

Yup. As the Brits here like to remind us rule-besotted Yanks, there ain't no right or wrong in English. Just practices, behaviors, and customs.

 

[jutfrank]

It seems to me that everyone has misunderstood your question. What you're really asking is about the meaning of followed by.

the relative pronoun(whom) is followed by the proper noun(John).

Is it a passive voice?

Yes, it is.

If it is passive then it's active voice: the proper noun(John) follows the relative pronoun(whom).

Yes, that's right.

So, the relative pronoun “whom” is followed by the proper noun “John”, that is " John Whom", am I right?

No.

I am totally confused with the phrase "followed by".

Yes, you are!

We use the verb follow, in either the active or passive voice to talk about items in sequence. Let's take the example of a sequence of numbers:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The number 5 follows the number 4.
The number 6 follows the number 5.
The number 7 follows the number 6.

The sentences above are all in the active voice. The sentences below are all in the passive voice:

The number 4 is followed by the number 5.
The number 5 is followed by the number 6.
The number 6 is followed by the number 7.

The verb follow in all of these sentences talks only about the sequential relation of each number. If we randomise the positions of the numbers, the relation is different:

5 6 2 7 1 4 3

The number 7 follows the number 2.
The number 7 is followed by the number 1.

We can do the same thing if we replace a string of numbers with a string of words.

the woman whom John saw

The word 'John' follows the word 'whom'.
The word 'John' is followed by the word 'saw'.

The verb follow relates only to the sequential relation, not the grammatical relation.

 

[Nanu1]

"The relative pronoun is followed by the proper noun." Is this sentence in a passive voice?

 

[GoesStation]

"The relative pronoun is followed by the proper noun." Is this sentence in the passive voice?

Yes.

The indefinite article was wrong because you weren't speaking of one possible passive voice.