Whom did you sell your house to?

[Rollercoaster1]

1. Whom did you sell your house?
2. Whom did you sell your house to?
3. To whom did you sell your house?

I wrote these sentences myself. 'Whom' is a plural interrogative pronoun in all the sentences above. Are all of them grammatically correct?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

You need the preposition "to", so 1 is not correct.
Who and whom are used interchangeably nowadays despite what the grammar rules tell you, so you are more likely to hear: Who did you sell your house to?

Does 2 work fine?

 

[Rover_KE]

#2 is very formal and only a pedant would use it.

Ted is right about #1 and also when he says you are more likely to hear Who did you sell your house to? but wrong when he says 'Who and whom are used interchangeably nowadays'.

 

[PeterCW]

In colloquial British English I would use "who" in your second sentence and "whom" in your third but agree that Who did you sell your house to? is the most natural of the options.

 

[Tdol]

Sound natural- use the popular question.

 

[GoesStation]

In spoken American English it's typically pronounced "Who'dja sell your house to?"

 

[PeterCW]

In spoken American English it's typically pronounced "Who'dja sell your house to?"

In spoken English on both sides of the Atlantic the stress is normally on "who" and the rest of the phrase may be partially lost. In BrE it would be "who'dya" or "who did ya". That should not be reflected in your writing.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

In colloquial British English I would use "who" in your second sentence and "whom" in your third but agree that Who did you sell your house to? is the most natural of the options.

What if more than one persons are being asked, should I still use 'who' and not 'whom' as in 2?

 

[emsr2d2]

What if more than one [STRIKE]persons[/STRIKE] person [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] is being asked? Should I still use 'who' and not 'whom' as in 2?

The number of people you are asking has nothing to do with it.

 

[Tarheel]

Tarheel: Who did you sell your house to?
Bob: I don't know.
Tarheel: You don't remember?
Bob: It was last year. I sold the house. I moved. I have a new place now. I don't remember their names.
Tarheel: But It was a big transaction.
Bob: I didn't deal with them. My real estate agent did that. By the way, you're the first person to ask me that question.
Tarheel: Really?
Bob: Yes, really.

 

[Phaedrus]

1. Whom did you sell your house?

Example (1) does not work for me.

I find it exceptionally awkward, if not ungrammatical, to have the first object of a double-object construction be the questioned element in a wh-question.

Swan expressly tells learners that it's bad:

"610.4 wh-questions: Who did you buy it for?

Prepositions are used in wh-questions referring referring to the indirect object.

Who did you buy it for? (NOT [strike]Who did you buy it?[/strike])
Who was it sent to? (NOT [strike]Who was it sent?[/strike])"

- Swan, M. (2005). Practical English usage (3rd Ed.). Oxford University Press.