Who/whom

Question

HiI usaully get confused between the use of "who" and "whom". Could you please help me to overcome the confusion?1: Who would you vote for in the coming election? / Whom would you vote for in the coming election?Thanks for the help.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Both sentences are correct. The preposition (for) isn't next to who and thus whom isn't required.

CB

Canadian45 · Answer

Cool BreezeBoth sentences are correct. The preposition (for) isn't next to who and thus whom isn't required.CB

However, "for" is still there. But more importantly, it is clear that the object form, "whom", is required for the sentence to be grammatically correct.

I do realize that some (native) speakers tend to use the object form only after a preposition, but "whom" is the correct answer for that sentence.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Usage defines correctness.

These days, using "whom" there would be noticed, and your method of delivery would receive more attention than your message. You'd be more likely to hear back "Whom? Oh 'whom' is it? My, aren't you the fancy talker" than a simple answer to your question.

Cool Breeze · Answer

canadian45I do realize that some (native) speakers tend to use the object form only after a preposition, but "whom" is the correct answer for that sentence.

As usual, there is more than one opinion on correct English usage since the Anglo-Saxon world lacks a Language Academy or a similar authoritative institution that has the final say on correctness. I have a number of grammar books written by both native and non-native speakers and these grammarians see nothing wrong with who in questions like the original poster's. Of course I appreciate your opinion as well.

This is what professor Otto Jespersen says about interrogative who/whom in his Essentials of English Grammar:

Who has been used instead of whom for centuries, as shown by innumerable quotations from Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists:

Who did you meet there?
Who is that letter from? (= pedantic "From whom is that letter?)
Who have ye there, my lordes? (Marlowe)
Who didst thou leave to tend his Majesty? (Sh.)
Pray you, who does the wolfe love? The lambe. (Sh.)
Who should I see there but the most artful procuress. (Addison)
Who can he take after? (Sheridan)
But he didn't know who he was talking to. (G. Eliot)

Grammarians have been so severe in blaming this that now many people feel proud when they remember writing whom and even try to use that form in speech.

CB

Canadian45 · Answer

I am only pointing out, for those who care, that there is a grammaticallycorrect answer. The OP, as well as everyone else, can decide what to say.

Who/whom

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