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Pete from Peru · Novice Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 25

A few minutes ago my sister asked me when to use WHOM. Basically, I know that you can use it in sentences like: 'Albus, whom she had married a few years ago, was the new group leader' or 'Prime, for whom he had a lot of respect, was the one.' Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

But I can't think of any formal rule or grammar explanation for the proper use of WHOM. Since I am an English teacher, I really think that the information you may provide will be a great help for me and EL's... and my sister.

Thanks in advance.

Pete from Peru
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Benjamin [inactive] · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:51 pm Post subject:

Think of it like this:

who = I / we / he / she / they
whom = me / us / him / her / them

Bear in mind though that most people do not really use whom in every-day conversation, and it's becoming rather unusual even in written English now as well.

Lazar · Expert Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 174

Benjamin is right. "Whom" is used as an object, never as a subject. So you could say, "Whom did you call?" or "To whom did you give it?", but you couldn't say, "Whom called you?" or "Whom gave it to you?" Of course, as Benjamin points out, people almost never use "whom" in daily conversation, and it's even becoming rare in formal contexts. Most speakers would say, "Who did you call?" or "Who did you give it to?" (Note the preposition at the end: it's okay to say "to whom", but it would be ungrammatical to use "to who" in this context.)

Porthos · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:54 am Post subject:

Many here, particularly from older generations, will correct you if you use "who" in place of "whom" when "whom" is the accepted grammatical norm, but that's because in their day, it was more common. I rarely ever use "whom", unless I'm being especially pretentious.

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Pete from Peru · Novice Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 25

Thank you very much guys. That was very helpful.

Pete from Peru
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You speak a Romance language? You can learn all the others! It'll be a beautiful and exciting experience!!

Already speak: Italian, some Portuguese.
Learning: French

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Uriel · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:24 am Post subject:

It's always with "to" or "from". That's how I remember it. Of course, I rarely use it myself, so I need a quick guide like that....

Otherwise, I think of it as "that British word that I thankfully don't have to use..."

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