Sunday, June 1st, 2008
Who and Whom: A Who-Mongous Problem
I don’t know if people think whom sounds inherently awkward or if they just don’t know when to use who and when to use whom. I suspect it’s the latter. Many people, even people getting paid to write, use who where they should’ve used whom and vice versa.
A little background information
Before you can decide whether to use who or whom, you need to understand the difference between a subject pronoun and an object pronoun.
Who is a subject pronoun, along with he, she, you, I, we, they, and it. A subject pronoun is used when the pronoun is the subject of your sentence. The subject does the action.
- Who rolled down the hill?
- She rolled down the hill. (She is the subject. She did the action rolled.)
Whom is an object pronoun, along with him, her, you, me, us, them, and it. An object pronoun receives the action.
- Whom did he take to the movie?
- He took her to the movie. (Her is receiving the action took.)
The trick
There is a simple trick you can use to decide whether to use who or whom. Replace who with he (or whom with him) to see if the sentence is correct. If it is proper to use he, then use who. If it is proper to use him, then use whom.
- Who built the cabinet?
- He built the cabinet. (“Him built the cabinet” is not correct, so you know “whom” would not be correct either.)
- Whom can I ask to dance?
- Can I ask him to dance? (“Can I ask he to dance” is not correct, so you know “who” would not be correct either.)
Using the he/him method to figure out whether to use who/whom doesn’t force you to fully understand why you are using either word. However, if it helps you write correctly, then I’m happy to share this tip!