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Where and when do we use 'who' and 'whom' in English Language?

2007-01-10 01:49:03 · 8 answers · asked by Chandra Prakash K 1 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

8 answers

My answer was chosen BEST last week. I'll paste it here now.

Best Answer - Chosen By Voters

Who is a subject pronoun . and
Whom is an object pronoun.

Who gave me a "thumbs down" rating? He gave you one.
He gave WHOM a thumbs down rating? He gave ME one.

The verb can only be "done" by the SUBJECT. WHO gave me?... HE gave me... a thumbs down rating.

But the object receives the action of the verb:
He gave WHOM a ... ? He gave ME a .......!

But in modern English, I'm afraid that "whom" is leaving the language. In 20 years, people will not use it anymore. Now it is common to say... "Who did you send the letter to?" But the best English is, "Whom did YOU SEND the letter to?" or
"To whom did YOU SEND the letter?"

I hope this helps.

3 Votes 75%
1 0

2007-01-10 01:52:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

The pronoun who's used as a venture: Mr. Johnson is the instructor WHO taught me each and every thing i understand. The pronoun WHOM is used as an merchandise: he's the guy of WHOM we spoke. John replaced into the boy WHOM we asked to help.

2016-10-06 22:49:51 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

Basically, "whom" is usually used with 'to', 'by', 'for', with', when asking a question. e.g.:
To whom did you give it?
For whom are you voting?
By whom was this book written?
With whom are you living?

You would also use it in this sense: "I will pay the person to whom I owe the money."
It sounds better, and is more correct, than saying "I will pay the person who I owe the money to."

"Who" is going? I don't know "who" took the book.

WHO is often used, incorrectly, instead of WHOM.

2007-01-10 02:20:04 · answer #3 · answered by cloud43 5 · 1 0

If you can substitute in "he" into the sentence, then use who.
"Whom" is an object, and usually functions as an object of a preposition.

Example:
Who is that boy? (He is that boy also makes sense)
The singers, five of whom were sick, had to cancel their show. (singers is the subject in this sentence not whom)

2007-01-10 01:57:02 · answer #4 · answered by sunnyd_137 3 · 0 0

Who is the subject; Whom is the object. The easy way to remember is to remember two very common phrases:

"Who is that?" -- who is the subjective case.

"To whom it may concern" -- whom is the object of the preposition.

2007-01-10 01:57:29 · answer #5 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 0 0

"Who" is used in referring to the subject of a sentence or phrase; "whom" is used to refer to the object.

For example, in the sentence "whom are you going with?", the subject is the word 'you' so you would use 'whom'. In the sentence "Who is at the door?" the subject is the person at the door, so you would use 'who'.

2007-01-10 01:56:57 · answer #6 · answered by donkeehotay999 2 · 0 0

who is used when the word is the subject and whom is used when it is the object in a sentenced

2007-01-10 02:14:09 · answer #7 · answered by sweetienugent 2 · 0 0

Use whom when the pronoun is preceded by a preposition:
For example: "To who it may concern..." or "You received a letter from whom?" and "To whom do I address this?".

2007-01-10 02:21:22 · answer #8 · answered by monica_dietz@sbcglobal.net 4 · 0 0

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