Who or Whom?

Question

when do i use whom and when do i use who? Its so confusing...

Answer 1

In an advanced English grammar class in university way back in the 1960's somebody asked the professor the same question. He said that he usually used only who and whom only when he wanted people to know he was Dr. X, PhD, professor of English.

Answer 2

I just completed a lesson for my 7th graders on this very question. I hope I can make it as easy for you as it was for them....this is the rule of thumb I use: If you remember these two rules — substitute “he/him” or “she/her,” and that every verb with a tense must have a subject — you should solve the “who/whom” quandary every time.

If you apply those two rules and you're still not sure, apply the all-important Rule #3.

Rule #3: Give it a sincere and honest effort to determine is it's “who” or “whom.” If it takes more than a 30 seconds to figure it out, pick the one that sounds best to the ear (read it aloud) and move on. Why? Because even grammarians are likely to squabble over which to use.

. The word "who" can only be used when it is the subject of a verb.


Use "whom" when it is not the subject of a verb .

Answer 3

First, to know whether to use who or whom, we need to talk about the difference between subjects and objects because you use who when you are referring to the subject of a clause and whom when you are referring to the object of a clause.

I know: subject and object sound pretty abstract, but it's easy. If we think about people, the subject of the sentence is the person doing something, and the object of the sentence is having something done to them. If I step on Squiggly, then I am the subject and Squiggly is the object.

Still having a hard time remembering? Here's my favorite mnemonic: If I say, "I love you," you are the object of my affection, and you is also the object of the sentence (because I am loving you, making me the subject and you the object). How's that? I love you. You are the object of my affection and my sentence. It's like a Valentine's Day card and grammar mnemonic all rolled into one.

OK. So you all asked about who versus whom, but what I think you really want to know is just when to use whom, because most people don't go around throwing unneeded whoms into their sentences. So remember, you use whom when you are referring to the object of a sentence. Use whom when you are referring to the object of a sentence.

For example, it is, "Whom did you step on?" if you were trying to figure out that I had squished Squiggly*. Similarly, it would be, "Whom do I love?" because you are asking about the object — the target of my love. I know, it's shocking, but the Rolling Stones were being grammatically incorrect when they belted out the song, "Who do you love?" which I think was originally written by Bo Diddley.

So, when is it OK to use who? If you were asking about the subject of these sentences then you would use who. For example, "Who loves you?" and "Who stepped on Squiggly?" In both these cases the one you are asking about is the subject — the one taking action, not the one being acted upon.

Still too hard to remember? OK, here's the quick and dirty tip. Like whom, the pronoun him ends with m. When you're trying to decide whether to use who or whom, ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him. That's the trick: if you can answer the question being asked with him, then use whom, and it's easy to remember because they both end with m. For example, if you trying to ask, "Who (or whom) do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." Him ends with an m, so you know to use whom. But if you are trying to ask, "Who (or whom) stepped on Squiggly?" the answer would be, "He stepped on Squiggly." There's no m, so you know to use who. So that's the quick and dirty trick: if you can't remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence, just remember that him equals whom.

Answer 4

Use who if it's somebody doing something and whom if it's somebody that something is being done to. Of course that last sentence is ungrammatical, but that's by choice.

Example: Who did that?
That medicine was intended for the person for whom it was prescribed.

-w-

Answer 5

who is used as a subject noun: Who is taking my cookies?

whom is the object noun: To whom shall I give this reward for finding the cookies?

Answer 6

Brian is so wrong!
"Who" is a question to find the Subject in a sentence. Who saw Jim? Answer: Gina saw Jim. Gina is the Subject.
"Whom" is a question to find the Object in a sentence: Whom did Gina see? She saw Jim. Jim is a D.O. (direct object). Basically, the answers for "whom" are: me, you, him,her,it, us, them. The answers for "who" are: I, you, he, she, it, we, they.

Answer 7

whom is used when you are asking a question about someone who is not present - i.e. whom are you talking about?

you use who when you are talking about someone who is present - who are you?

this is in polite, proper grammar terms, anyway.

Answer 8

Easy way to remember:

If you can answer with "her/him/them" then you use "whom". Otherwise, use "who"

Example
"Whom are you going to the movies with?"
Ans: I am going with HER/HIM/THEM, (not I am going with he/she/they)

"Who stole the money?"
ans: SHE/HE/THEY did, (not her/him/them did)

Took me a while to get it straightened out as well.

Answer 9

i just use who.