Whom

Question

Does 'whom' sound always formal or can I add it to my usual English? It seems rarely used,  is it? How does it sound to English speakers?

Woodward · Accepted Answer

Personally I think it does sound formal in speech. I wouldn't use it in my everyday speech unless I'm imitating an aristocat. But everyone is different.

Moijelesuis · Answer

in brief, who is an subject pronoun and whom is an object pronoun ... not that that stops anyone from using both incorrectly! these words are problematic only if you consider ending sentences with a preposition problematic.

whom should follow a preposition therefore...

from whom did you receive that letter?

but since common speech removes "from" (and most other introductory prepositions) to the end of the sentence, one "forgets" that whom is an object of the preposition "from" so we get:

who did you receive that letter from?

(thank *** no one says "did you receive that letter from whom?" with both the preposition and its object placed at the end!)

Kitkattail · Answer

I use "whom" in everyday speech. Maybe it's a bit formal... but no one seems to mind. I am informal enough in other ways.

Elena · Answer

Ok, I understand.
I've made a decision, I won't use, it's more secure since it does sound formal to an English speaker and the easiest for me that I wasn't used to it.
Thank you W, M and K.

Whom

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