Whom verses who

Question

when does one use whom verses who?

Yoong Liat · Accepted Answer

Anonymouswhen does one use whom verses who?

I think you should provide a few sentences so that members can help you understand more clearly the usage of 'who' and 'whom'.

Free_spirit · Answer

According to Paul Brians' Common Errors in English Usage:

Who is the the subject form of the pronoun

Whom is the object form of the pronoun

e.g. Who (subject) did what to whom (object)?

See the full discussion that Brians gives:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/who.html

The basic rule that Brians gives is to replace the word who/whom in the sentence with he/him. If the correct word to use is "him" then the equivalent from who/whom is whom.

Examples:

"Who told who/whom?":

"Who told ~~he/~~him?" -> "Who told whom?" (Although, "Who told who?" is acceptable in common usage)

"Who/whom built the house?":

"He~~/him~~ built the house." -> "Who built the house?"

It can be a little more complex that this, so see the article that I mentioned above.

Aguila · Answer

Using Whose
(a) Whose (book) is this? It's paco's (book).
(b) Whose (books) are those? They're mine (or my books).
(c) Whose car did you borrow? I borrowed Karen's (car).

Whose ask about possession.
Notice in (a): The speaker of the question may omit the noun (book) if the meanin is clear to the listener.

Whom verses who

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions