A Tricky “Who”

We grammar curmudgwons tend to like “whom” as the first word in a sentence because it’s often a direct object, even though it doesn’t feel like it. This sentence is different! First word in the second line:

Rearrange the words to put the main clause at the beginning: “You had no idea who was even running…” Yes, this “who” is the subject of the subordinate clause, so it’s correct!

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Most folks write “who” when it’s the first word in the sentence, even though it should be “whom” when it’s not the subject.

“Whom” here is a direct object; “I” is the subject. (The comic is rather large, and this is only the first panel. Click the link if you want to see the whole thing.)

Yes, yes, the technical term is concision, but that’s not the word people use, except for us pretentious professionals. The word means to take out unnecessary words. Taking out the three unnecessary words here solves two problems. First panel:

Take out “was it that” and you have a much cleaner sentence, and it fixes two errors.

• Use “who,” not “that” when you refer to people.
• “It,” as spoken in the sentence, is a meaningless predicate nominative. Bad.

So just ask, “Who said ‘I’m not young enough to know everything?’ “

Because we have direct object, that’s why! The humor is that he’s questioning who is doing the watching, and who is being watched. IOW, he should say “Who’s watching whom?”. The way it’s written, he’s merely repeating his question without saying what they’re watching.

First, here’s the comic. First panel:

It’s supposed to be “to whom,” (whomever) right? No! Not this time!

Remember the rule: go from the inside out.

“Whomever” is the subject of the clause whose verb is “wants.” It’s “Whoever wants one.”

The “to” is just a preposition with the noun clause “whoever wants one” as its object.

Tricky!