Pronoun Case Question (Who/whom)

Question

Hi, folks.  I am wondering what is the proper case-objective or subjective-for this sentence:  "Who are you with?"    Am I correct in thinking that the subject is "you" and the object is "who"?  If the object is "who," should the case be objective (whom)?  But to say "Whom are you with?" sounds stilted and odd.  Help please!

Regards · Accepted Answer

Hi,
Who refers to the subject while whom refers to the object. Would you say I am with he or I am with him?

I would say I am with him. Therefore, the technically correct form is Whom are you with? (= With whom are you?)

Nevertheless, many people don't speak that way anymore and prefer to say Who are you with instead, which is

maybe not grammatically correct but common.

To sum up,

Who are you with? -- Common in informal speech. When talking to your friends, this would be fine.

Whom are you with? -- Formal. When speaking formally, this would be appropriate.

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

The sentence, "Who are you with?", if you analyze it structurally for grammar, would be, I believe: "You are with who?". Here, "You" is the subject of the sentence, "are" is the verb, which is a linking type of verb, and "with who" is the predicate. With a linking verb, the subject and predicate are very closely related, either the predicate is the same thing as the subject (You are John.) or it describes the subject (You are good.). Here, the predicate is an adjective that describes the subject, the phrase "with who" functioning as an adj. So the sentence is much like the sentence: You are accompanied?

As for the grammatical case of "who", this is the object of a preposition and is thus in the objective case, and should be "whom" not "who." So you have: "You are with whom?" or "Whom are you with?"

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousAm I correct in thinking that the subject is "you" and the object is "who"? If the object is "who," should the case be objective (whom)? But to say "Whom are you with?" sounds stilted and odd. Help please!

The base statement is "You are with whom", just as you suspected. whom is the object of the preposition with.

Nevertheless, the objective case "whom" becomes "who" in all but the most formal styles when it is fronted to form a question.

You are with whom.> Whom are you with? (very formal) > Who are you with? (ordinary conversation)

[With whom are you? is even more formal - so formal that it is very rarely heard.]

Likewise with all questions that have a stranded preposition:

Who are you talking about?
Who does he usually rely on?
Who have you given it to?
Who did you get it from?
Who did you bring this for?

CJ

Pronoun Case Question (Who/whom)

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions