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Who vs. Whom: Explanation + An Easy Trick
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Author:
bianca
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| Created: March 24, 2010 at 07:40 am |
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Entry Type:
Article, G (All)
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| Category: Educational | Advice | How-To Guide |
| Entry Stats: 5 comments 2203 views |
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Who vs. Whom: Explanation + An Easy Trick
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It’s often difficult for some of us to know when to use who and when to use whom. Although the mistake is quite common and rarely pointed out, it’s still a good idea to know the difference—especially if you are a writer.
You use who when you are referring to the subject of a clause and whom when you are referring to the object of a clause. Stay with me on this, there's an explanation and an easy trick to remember coming up!
Who (pronoun; possessive whose; objective whom) is used in place of the subject of a question or clause. Use when the sentence requires a subject pronoun (like he or she):
- Who wrote the book?
- Who are you?
- Do you know who told the secret?
Whom (pronoun) is used in place of the object of a question or clause. Use whom when the sentence requires an object pronoun (like him or her)
- With whom do you ride?
- With whom are you going?
- For whom did you vote?
In some circles, it doesn't really matter to people if you use who instead of whom but the truth is, it’s the difference between I and me, she and her, and he and him. To the trained ear, the difference is as large and apparent as an elephant in the room.
Easy Trick: The “he/him” method
Still don’t understand when to use who and when to use whom? An easy trick is to answer the question or restate the sentence using “he” or “him”.
He = who
Him = whom
(Remember this by noting that both him and whom have an “m” at the end)
Example:
Who do you love? / Whom do you love?
Which one is correct?
To figure this one out, answer the question using the he/him method:
I love he. / I love him.
The correct way to write this question would be: Whom do you love?
Last Modified: March 24, 2010 at 07:43 am
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Author Notes
Sources:
http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/whowhom.html
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhom.asp
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