what is the difference between "who" and "whom"?

Question

when do you use who and when do you use whom? please give examples.

Answer 1

WHO
1 : what or which person or persons -- used as an interrogative -- used by speakers on all educational levels and by many reputable writers, though disapproved by some grammarians, as the object of a verb or a following preposition
2 : the person or persons that : WHOEVER
3 -- used as a function word to introduce a relative clause; used especially in reference to persons but also in reference to groups

WHOM
objective case of WHO -- used as an interrogative or relative; used as object of a verb or a preceding preposition or less frequently as the object of a following preposition though now often considered stilted especially as an interrogative and especially in oral use -- occasionally used as predicate nominative with a copulative verb or as subject of a verb especially in the vicinity of a preposition or a verb of which it might mistakenly be considered the object

Answer 2

Who is the subject of the sentence but the object of the sentence is whom.

Answer 3

WHO is used as the subject of a clause or sentence
or the initiator of the action.

WHOM is used as the object of a clause or sentence
as the receiver of the action.
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How to tell when to use "WHO" or "WHOM"
Use a substitution test:

For "Who" substitute "He" or "They"
(these are clearly used for the "subject" of the sentence or the clause, the person "initiating" the action of the verb)

For "Whom" substitute "him" or "them"
(these are clearly the "object" of the clause, commonly used with prepositions or "receiving" the action of the verb)

If you substitute using he/they or him/them,
does the sentence sound right?

If not try the other case.
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Examples:

[Who as subject form]
"Who is ringing the bell?" or
"I don't know who should ring the bell"
Since if you substitute "He"
"He is ringing the bell" or
"He should ring the bell"
This clearly uses the "subject" form.

[Whom as object form]
* "For whom does the bell toll?"
Because you would say
The bell tolls for "him" or "them" [object of the preposition "for"]

* "He is the person whom I most admire"
Because you would say
I most admire "him" or "them" [object of the verb "admire"]

Answer 4

one letter...lol..just kiddig..whom is just being more respectful and you usually don't star a question with whom. Its never "Whom is coming? its Who is coming " but if u wanted to ask a wuestion with whom then there would have to be a word before it " With Whom is he going to the movies?"

Answer 5

Hello,

This question was posed five months ago on Yahoo Answers. Check out the best answer. This should clear things up.


Mrs Librarian

(Keep the library open-Visit your local library)

Answer 6

nominative and one other thing ex.

Tom, who is a great guy
Give this to whoever you want.
OR

Whomever you pick, make sure they dont suck.


whom is used when you arent using it to describe the subject or D.O.

Answer 7

Not Much