who whom grammar
Hi, in today’s lesson, you will learn how
and when to use who and whom in English.
If you’re like most people, you know that there’s a difference between these pronouns,
but you aren’t sure what that difference is.
After this lesson, you’ll realise that knowing when to use who or whom is not as difficult as you think.
Keep watching until the end as there is a short quiz to see how much you have learned.
OK, so let’s start with whom.
Whom is used to refer to the object of a verb or a preposition.
For example:
Whom do you believe?
Here YOU is the subject, BELIEVE is the verb and whom replaces the OBJECT.
So, it’s whom replacing the object.
or
To whom was the letter addressed?
Here it is used with a preposition so we use whom.
Now let’s look at who in English.
So, who should be used to refer to the SUBJECT of a sentence. Not the object. The subject.
For example:
Who would like to go on vacation?
Here who refers to the SUBJECT of the sentence.
or
The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
Who here refers to the subject, the woman, and therefore we use who.
OK, so how can you be sure that you are using who or whom correctly?
Well, there is a Top Tip that I am going to give you. A little trick.
Try substituting “he” or “she” and “him” or “her in the sentence.”
If “he” or “she” fits, you should use who.
And if “him” or “her” fits, you should use whom.
So think of him with an M, whom with an M and you'll remember it.
Keep in mind that you may have to rearrange the sentence a bit while you test it.
So, let’s try it in this example:
Is it Who or whom ate my sandwich?
So, we replace who or whom with he or she and we get
He ate my sandwich. or she ate my sandwich. This works so it is who. Let’s just check
her or him. Her/Him ate my sandwich. This doesn’t work. That means the word you want
is who.
Let’s look at another example.
She is the woman who or whom I met for lunch yesterday.
So, we put she in the sentence and we get I met she for lunch yesterday. No this doesn’t
work.
Now, let’s try putting her in the sentence and we get I met her for lunch yesterday.
This works. So, we use WHOM in the original sentence.
If you think the whom examples sound too formal, you are not alone. Many people don’t use
whom in casual speech or writing. Others use it only in well-established phrases such as
“to whom it may concern.” Some people never use it. It’s not unusual at all to
hear sentences like these:
Who do you believe?
Who should I talk to?
Let’s compare 2 sentences.
She gave birth in 2019 to a boy, whom she named Neil Smith.
and
She gave birth in 2019 to a boy, who was called Neil Smith.
Let’s try our trick. In the first sentence, She named him. This works so it’s WHOM.
Whom here represents the OBJECT.
whereas
In the second sentence. Let’s try our trick and put he in the sentences. He was called
Neil Smith. Yes this works so we use WHO. Who represents the SUBJECT.
But there is one time when whom must be used.
Whom must be used when it is preceded by the quantifiers, both of, few of, all of, many
of and several of. So, you would say:
The woods are home to over 200 bears, all of whom eat porridge for breakfast.
OK SO NOW IT’S YOUR TURN...
Fill in the gaps with either who or whom....
BLANK DID YOU SEE LURKING AROUND THE COTTAGE?
WHOM.
Use the trick and replace with he or him.... so it would be, “ Did you see HE lurking
around the cottage. No this doesn’t work. Did you see HIM lurking around the cottage.”
HIM works so we use WHOM.
With BLANK did you go for a walk?
Whom... here we have a preposition with so it must be WHOM.
The children, all of BLANK were cold and tired, slept like babies.
WHOM. Here we have the quantifier all of … so we must use WHOM.
The girl BLANK broke the window was very sorry.
Write your answer down below in the comment section and I promise to let you know how
you do.
So that’s it for now. I hope you now feel confident as to when to use WHO or WHOM in
English.
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who whom grammar