Hi, guys! Welcome to Series English!
My name is Antonia Romaker
and today we are going to discuss the difference between who and whom.
They are both used to make questions, to ask questions
and introduce relative clauses.
We'll have loads of examples,
so that it would be 100% clear to you.
OK, let's start with who.
Who is used to ask questions about people.
So it is used as an interrogative pronoun.
Examples. Who made this cheesecake.
So I ask a question about a person.
Who made this cheesecake?
Notice that who in this sentence is the subject.
And that's why we don't need inversion.
We do not say: Who did make or something like that.
Who is next?
Who did you talk to?
And here who is the object of the sentence rather than the subject.
And that's why we have inversion here.
Because the subject is you.
Who did you talk to?
So who can be the subject or the object.
But anyway we ask questions about people.
We also use who when we create indirect questions or statements.
So questions which appear within other questions
or other sentences, other statements.
Can you tell me who I should talk to?
It is a question
It is - can you tell me?
And there's another question within -
who I should talk to.
Notice that here in the second part of the sentence -
who I should talk to -
there's no inversion.
Well the rule is - in indirect questions
we don't use inversion.
That's why if we separately ask:
Who should I talk to?
there is inversion.
But if we but the question within another sentence
statement or a question, then the inversion disappears.
And we say - can you tell me who I should talk to?
She asked me who made this cheesecake.
A question within a statement.
She asked me who made this cheesecake.
We also use who to introduce relative clauses
about people once again.
In this case who is a relative pronoun.
The girl who is hugging him is not his sister.
Once again here who is the subject within this sentence.
The girl who he is talking to
is not his sister.
And here who is not the subject, it is the object.
It is possible also in relative clauses.
And notice the word order.
The word order is always direct, no inversion in relative clauses.
The girl who is hugging him is not his sister.
The girl who he is talking to is not his sister.
As for whom, it is the object form of who.
As I have already pointed out several times
who can be the subject within its own clause or the object.
So when it is an object, we can substitute it with whom.
Especially in formal styles and in writing.
As for speaking whom is not very common,
it's used not very often, even in writing to tell you the truth.
Anyway but it should always be the object,
not the subject.
It is quite common with prepositions.
Let's take a look at several examples.
Tell me for whom you buy this present.
For whom, there's the preposition for,
and we use whom.
And whom here is not the subject.
For whom you buy, you buy, you do something.
That's why you is the subject within this clause.
And who is the object,
that's why it is possible to say whom here
instead of who.
Who is also possible.
But with prepositions, in writing, in formal styles
whom is a little bit more common.
The next example:
Millions of people are waiting for a new book about Harry Potter
many of whom are adults.
Here whom is a part of the subject,
but it is within another phrase.
And that's why after many of
we use whom, it is possible.
Whom are you going to invite?
You are going to invite someone,
you are the subject of this sentence
and whom are just people whom you invite.
So they are the object of this sentence,
that's why whom is possible.
But to tell you the truth in usual questions
whom is not that common,
even, it is even less common.
It is more common is relative clauses and indirect questions.
Let's take a look at a couple of more examples.
Another example would be
Millions of people are waiting for a new book about Harry Potter
who is the main character
of books by J. K. Rowling.
Here - who is the main character -
we can't say whom.
Who is the subject within this sentence
and it is used alone, not within the phrase.
As I have already mentioned
we can use whom in indirect questions
and relative clauses too,
when it is the subject within its own clause.
He didn't ask me for whom I had voted.
Here I want to consider one more interesting aspect.
When we use whom with prepositions
we rarely leave the preposition hanging
at the end of the sentence as we do with who.
So for example here we can say:
He didn't ask me who I had voted for.
It is very common when we use who with prepositions
to leave the preposition at the end of the sentence.
But when we use whom it's not very common
to put the preposition at the end.
Usually it goes before whom, so we say:
He didn't ask me for whom I had voted.
In relative clauses:
She met a man whom she married two months later.
She married him.
She did the action.
She was the... she is the subject of this sentence.
And whom is the object,
that's why whom is possible here
instead of who.
So the general information we need to memorize here is that
who can be used everywhere.
Doesn't matter - the subject, the object,
It can be used it questions, indirect questions and statements
and relative clauses - everywhere.
As for whom it can also be used everywhere,
but only when it is the object within the clause, within the sentence.
So be careful.
OK I hope that now it is clear to you
when we use who and when we use whom.
If you have any questions, if there are still some vague areas
you do not quite understand,
write a comment, I will try to answer as soon as possible.
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And I hope to see you soon! Happy English and Russian practice! Bye-bye!