Who, Maybe Whom
“Who” appears in all three panels. Are they correct?
Ready for the answers?
Panel 1: correct. “who” is the subject of the clause, which is nominative, so “who.”
Panel 2: incorrect! The object of a preposition (“to”) should be in the objective case, so “whom.”
Panel 3: correct. “who” is a predicate nominative (after “that is”), so “who.”
So how did you do?
PS—I found another example of a wrong “whom.” Second panel. The “whomever” is the subject of the sentence, so it should be “whoever”:
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A Who-Whom Test
After the lesson on correct use of “who” and “whom” two posts ago, this jumped out at me. Last panel. Is he correct or not?
Come on, you can do it!
When to Use Who or Whom
I mentioned this topic in the past, but I feel a lack of energy, and besides, I ran into an excellent essay on the topic that I thought I’d share with you. It’s from a site called The Oatmeal by Matthew Inman. Part way down he mentioned a tip that I have mentioned in the past, too.
If you’re not sure whether to use “who” or “whom,” replace the word with “he” or “him.” If “he” fits better, use “who. If “him” sounds better, use “whom.”
Here’s the link. Go read it. He even has a poster of the essay that you can post on your classroom wall.
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/who_vs_whom
To get your interest, here’s a picture from the essay:
Okay, go read it. https://theoatmeal.com/comics/who_vs_whom
Different Points of View
This struck me as a good illustration of having different points of view about the same topic. Not a lot else to say.
—Except to point out that the English teacher gets “whom” correct.
How do you feel about rainbows?
Another Who-Whom Lesson
Maybe it’s a subordinate clause lesson, because that’s the key here.
From the June 2021 Scientific American, page 62:
In Lisbon, Portugal, the social centers Disgraça and RDA69,
https://www.scientificamerican.com/index.cfm/_api/render/file/?method=inline&fileID=5F31A1C3-AF1A-4CF0-A00D504B5F075088 (probably a paywall)
which strive to re-create community life in an otherwise highly
fragmented urban situation, reached out with free or cheap food
to whoever needed it.
Last line. Shouldn’t that be “to whomever…”? After all, “to” is a preposition, so we should use the objective case, right? Nope.
Here’s the rule:
- Go from the inside to the outside.
What’s inside the prepositional phrase? A noun clause! And “who” (well, “whoever”) is the subject of “needed,” so it gets the nominative case!
So there you have it. Sometimes you can say “to who.”
