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

Question

I'm just a little confused. Sorry if this has already been asked before - I couldn't find it, although, to be honest, I didn't look very hard. Who/Whom has never been explained to me, and it would be nice to know - I pride myself on my good grammar! Seriously. It's sad but true.

Answer 1

"Who" is used when the person you are asking about is the subject of the sentence.

Who ate the last piece of pie?

"Whom" is used when the person you are asking about is the object of the sentence.

Whom were you calling?

A good way to remember is to think of what the answer of the question would be.

He ate the last piece of pie. "He" is the subject of the sentence.

I was calling him. "Him" is the object of the sentence.

Both "him" and "whom" end with the letter "m" so that's how I remember.

Of course, the answer to the question doesn't always have to be "him" but it just helps me remember whether to use "who" or "whom" when asking the question. :-)

Answer 2

I think you got the answer by now.. but it can be described easier:
a) WHO = the subject (who is there?)
b) WHOM = in ALL other situations: the object (whom did you kill?), the indirect object (whom did you give a smile?) AND it is used after every preposition: to whom, for whom, with whom etc.
That's all there is to it.

Answer 3

who u use it when it is replacing a subject: Paul gave u the pen /who gave u the pen? (who is replacing Paul subject of the verb gave
whom when replacing a direct object or indirect: i gave Paul the pen/whom did u give the pen too? whom is replacing Paul that is indirect object in the sentence here
English now uses who for both who and whom, but whom can not be used instead of who!

Answer 4

"Who" is the subject form, "whom" is the object form.

"Who is it?" - "who" is the subject.

"I gave it to whom?" - "whom" is the object of the preposition "to".

The word "whom", sadly, is a word on the way out. It is gradually becoming archaic, I think largely because people don't know its proper use.

Answer 5

"Who" is the subject and "whom" is the object of your sentence. To whom did you send it?
Here the pronoun "you" is the subject. You sent it to someone, so "whom" is the indirect object.
"You told whom?" Again, you is the subject and whom the object, this time the direct object.
"Who will do this?" A clear case of "who" being the subject.

You use "who" where you would use pronouns such as "I", "he", "she", "we" or "they".

You use "whom" where you would use pronouns such as "me.", "him" "her" "us" or "them".

A difficulty can arise where you have a sentence such as: "I saw the man whom I was introduced to yesterday." cf. "I saw the man who was introduced to me yesterday." The way in which you check whether it is "who" "or whom" is to turn the sentence round. "I was introduced to him", therefore "him' translates into "he". "He was introduced to me" -- here "he" translates into "who".

I found a good link link for you to practise with. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:2AhA88o9XVoJ:www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/062802.htm+who+whom&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

Answer 6

To whom do you think you are talking? I am talking to you.

Answer 7

Whom is a possessive. to whom does this belong. or Whom is calling.
Who is an identifier. Who is that girl. Who is going to the store.