Who or whom?

Question

I thought I had this who/whom business nailed down, but I'm not sure which is correct when this sort thing comes up:

"I got out first and the other driver, who/whom I know to be Anwar, got out next."

I would choose "who" rather than "whom" because I think "I know" is parenthetical and "to be" the infinitive of "is" which is a linking verb. Linking verbs, which indicate a kind of equality between subject and predicate, take the predicate nominative, keeping their objects in the nominative. So "Who is he/Anwar? He is Anwar" indicates that "who" should be chosen.

So in the following sentence I've substituted "is" for "to be":

"I got out first and the other driver, who I know is Anwar, got out next."

and this clearly indicates "who" is correct. Even more obvious if you take out "I know", which is clearly parenthetical.

However I'm not too sure that "I know" is parenthetical when "to be" is used; if it isn't then "... whom I know to be Anwar ..." would be the right choice because "know" would take an object: "Whom do I know him to be? I know him to be Anwar." This is what's confusing me and I'm not too sure which to choose. I think "Whom do I know he to be? I know he to be Anwar." is technically correct - predicate nominative - but few people I think would say "he to be" nowadays. However I still think "who" is the right choice for this type of construction.

I also come across a very similar construction, example below, in which I would choose whom instead of who:

"I got out first and the other driver, who/whom I know as Anwar, got out next."

Because "as" is an adverb and not a variant of to be, I think that "know" must take an object: "Whom do I know as Anwar? I know him as Anwar."

Any confirmation on this would be a help. Thanks.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi Anon;

"Whom" is fading out of the language, being replaced by "who."
For example:

"I know who you gave the book to" is much more commonly heard than
"I know whom I gave the book to."

Here is a usage note from Dictionary.com:

—Usage note The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that the choice must be determined by the grammar of the clause within which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause: Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed. Whom is the objective form: Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance? This method of selecting the appropriate form is generally characteristic of formal writing and is usually followed in edited prose. In most speech and writing, however, since who or whom often occurs at the beginning of the sentence or clause, there is a strong tendency to choose who no matter what its function. Even in edited prose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom, regardless of grammatical function. Only when it directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who : Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request. In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare. Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the “correct” To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to? However, the notion that whom is somehow more “correct” or elegant than who leads some speakers to hypercorrect uses of whom : Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office.

In your example, the pronoun is object case in the clause
Who(m) I know (=I know him )
So, although whom is technically correct, who would be strongly preferred, especially in speech.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI'm not too sure that "I know" is parenthetical when "to be" is used; if it isn't then "... whom I know to be Anwar ..." would be the right choice because "know" would take an object

Correct. I know can't be parenthetical because then you're left with who/whom to be Anwar, which is not grammatical.

I know him to be kind > whom I know to be kind
I consider him to be intelligent > whom I consider to be intelligent
I want him to be the project leader > whom I want to be the project leader

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks AlpheccaStars - appreciated.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks CalifJim, appreciated.

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