jwschang said:
RonBee said:
I might have to go back on some of my own advice, because not in a hundred years would I use whom in that sentence. I am not going to argue that whom is dead, but even tho it might go agains the "rule" who is more natural there. "Says who?" you say? Says me. :wink:
:twisted:
A contribution from me.
1. WHO
(a) Used as
subject of a verb.
I don't know
who has the tickets.
(b) Can also be
object of verb
BE (only).
I know
who she
is.
We didn't mind
who they
were next to us.
(c) In
spoken conversation (only), may be used as
object of a
preposition if it
does not follow after the preposition.
Whom did you bring
along?, or:
Who did you bring
along?
Whom did you speak
to?, or:
Who did you speak
to?
To whom did you speak?, BUT NOT:
To who did you speak?
I agree with most of that, especially in (a) and (b). However, I have to disagree with (c) if only because I would never use
whom in that way. I wouldn't use any of those sentences in which
whom appears either in speech or writing. I think perhaps this is a case in which the rule hasn't caught up to usage yet.
jwschang said:
2. WHOM
(a) Used as object of verb.
Is he the teacher whom you met?
They are the students whom we saw.
(b) Used as object of preposition.
To whom did you give a five?
This is the kid to whom I gave a five.
(c) CANNOT be used as subject of a verb.
He helped the lady who (he saw) had lost her wallet.
BUT NOT: He helped the lady whom (he saw) had lost her wallet.
The mistake here tends to be made because of the parenthetic "he saw". Preceding the nominative case "he", students use the objective case "whom" which is incorrect.
I agree, of course, that you shouldn't use
whom as a subject, but I would be unlikely to use to use
whom in any of those ways in which it is suggested it should be used. For example, I would say "Who did you give a five to?" and not "To whom did you give a five?" In the other example sentences I wouldn't feel the necessity of using either
who or
whom.