Gordaen’s Blog

One of the easiest ways to sound more intelligent is to use “who” and “whom” correctly. If the Internet is any indication, the majority of people have no idea what the difference is or think that “whom” is the more formal version of “who.” It’s really just a matter of subject or object (in most cases), which most native English speakers already understand.

The easiest trick is to substitute “he/she/they” or “him/her/them” into the sentence where “who/whom” would appear. Always remember that you are looking at the word’s function in a clause.

• ___ is the new person?
• To ___ are you speaking?
• I do not listen to those ___ interrupt.

The first one is “who,” because you could say, “He is the new person?” The second one is “whom,” because you could say, “To her are you speaking?” That probably sounds really weird, but if you rewrite it to sound natural (”Are you speaking to her?”) the choice is much more obvious. The third one is “who,” because the clause you are looking at is “___ interrupt” and you would say, “they interrupt” (not “them interrupt”).

Essentially, look to see if you can easily determine if the word functions as a subject (e.g., “he”) or an object (e.g., “her”). If you can’t, rewrite the sentence so that it is clearer to you (like in the second example) and/or remove all the words that are not part of the clause you are inspecting.

• Whom are you passing the paper to?
• Why don’t you give it to he who wants it most?

The first one shows how ending a sentence with a preposition can make the usage a little less clear. Simply rewrite the sentence in your mind as “You are passing the paper to whom?” and the choice is obvious. The second one illustrates that you just pay attention to the clause that matters (”(he) who wants it most”). Though that whole clause functions as an object (of a preposition, if you care), “who” functions as a subject within that clause

As I hinted in the intro paragraph, the most confusing part is that, in English, the subject of an infinite (”to” + verb, e.g., “to run”) is in the objective form. For example: “I gave extra time for them to answer the question correctly.” If you change the infinitive (”to answer”) to a finite verb (e.g., “answer”), then the sentence changes: “I gave extra time for they answer questions slowly” (I ended the sentence differently so that it would sound logical). “Who” and “whom” work the same way as other pronouns in these cases, but it’s a bit more clear to demonstrate with “them/they.”

Don’t worry if you are wrong once in a while (unless you make it a point to correct other people); I frequently find that noted journalists use the incorrect form (and I’m sure I make mistakes). If you pay enough attention, you’ll start to notice the patterns that can throw people off (such as “…who they thought was the killer…” (just drop the “they thought” to determine the correct use)) and you’ll even make sense out of much more complicated sentences. Some people on the Internet might be able to use the words correctly, but a quick perusal fails to reveal who.