When do you use "who" and when do you use "whom"?

Question

Does it make a difference?

Answer 1

Who is for use when there is no subject of a sentence, and whom is for when there is one. My pneumonic device:
"No subject, no m."
Hope this'll help you.

Answer 2

It's funny how complicated the answers are, when it's so simple:
who = the subject (who is calling?)
whom = the object (the man whom I killed)
AND you use whom after any preposition: for whom, after whom, to whom etc.
I am not a native speaker but I learned English (ages ago) at school, including all the rules etc. That's how I know.

Answer 3

Who is used in the subjective case, like when it's the subject of a sentence (or usually a questions).

Whom on the other hand is used in the objective case. Many people have mentioned that it's used after a preposition; in that case it woulde be the OBJECT of a preposition.

The standard English sentence structure is SVO. 99% of the time when the simplified sentence is in that form, whom will be used in the O psition and who will be used in the S position.

Answer 4

For the short answer, go with notyou311:
'Who' is the subject (Who likes English grammar?).
'Whom' is the object, whether direct (Whom do you love?) or indirect (To whom are you speaking? For whom will you vote? With whom did you study?).

For the lo-o-o-o-ng answer, follow tampico135's link to the University of Kansas Web site.

I also like tonalc1's remark: "Knowing the difference would be important only if you wish to sound like you've gotten an education." Right on!

Answer 5

Who is usually the subject of the sentence .Whom is the object.
Example:
This is the man who took your umbrella.
This is the man whom you gave the umbrella to.
You should also notice that the regular American speech makes no differentiation between the two words. Knowing the difference would be important only if you are using it with British people or if you are writing an Academic paper.

Answer 6

You've gotten some very good answers here. This is a response to the English teacher above who "hates it."

S/he says "You should also notice that the regular American speech makes no differentiation between the two words. Knowing the difference would be important only if you are using it with British people or if you are writing an Academic paper."

This is wrong. It is in common usage in American speech. Knowing the difference would be important only if you wish to sound like you've gotten an education.

And this sentence is incorrect: "This is the man whom you gave the umbrella to." It should read "This is the man to whom you gave the umbrella."

Answer 7

Yes it makes a difference. Who is used as a subject or follows a linking verb as in "Who will win the next election?"
Whom is a direct object or the object of a preposition. "Address the letter to whom it may concern."

Answer 8

Grammatically it does make a difference.
Whom follows a preposition.
Who is used as a subject.
ex. Because of whom, around whom, beyond whomever (you get the idea.

Answer 9

“Who” and “whoever” are subjective pronouns; “whom” and “whomever” are in the objective case. As simple and important as that distinction is, many people have difficulty deciding on the proper usage of “who” and “whom” in sentences.
The two sentences below illustrate the easy usage in which “who” is clearly the subject and “whom” is clearly the object. In such simple cases, virtually everyone can determine the proper choice:

Who is that masked man? (subject)

The men, four of whom are ill, were indicted for fraud. (object)

When “who” is not the main subject of the sentence, however, many people become confused. They tinker and change who to “whom.”

It was Thomas Jefferson, I think, who was the third president of the United States.

Notice that “who,” not “whom,” is still the correct form as the subject of the clause that follows. The proper name, Thomas Jefferson, could be substituted for “who” to make a perfectly good sentence:

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States.

As a ready check in such sentences, simply substitute the personal pronoun “he/him” or “she/her” for “who/whom.” If he or she would be the correct form, the proper choice is who.” If “him” or “her” would be correct, use “whom.”

This technique of substituting a personal pronoun for the relative pronoun works nicely whenever you have difficulty deciding whether to use “who” or “whom,” assuming that you have no difficulty using the proper form of personal pronouns.

Even when the word order must be altered slightly, you can use the technique:

Mrs. Dimwit consulted an astrologer whom she met in Seattle. (She met him in Seattle.)

Jones is the man whom I went fishing with last spring. (I went fishing with him.)

Joyce is the girl who got the job. (She got the job.)

Whom can we turn to in a time of crisis? (Can we turn to her?)

The delegates differed as to who they thought might win. (Not whom. Here the entire clause is the object of the preposition. Substitution is particularly helpful in cases such as this. They thought he might win.)

Who is that masked man? (subject)

The men, four of whom are ill, were indicted for fraud. (object)

Answer 10

You use 'whom' in the 'accusative'. In other words when you are doing an action towards them So you would say 'This is the man to whom I wrote.' as opposed to 'This is the man who wrote to me.'

Answer 11

I think who is used when talking directly to someone, as in "who are you?" but if your talking about someone, as in "Whom are you looking for?" you use whom. I may be wrong so don't give me the best answer.