Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Who versus Whom

Haven't done a straight grammar mix-up in a while. So I found a really cool grammar girl entry on this one.

Use who when you are referring to the subject. Use whom when you are referring to the object.

Quick and dirty tip: Like whom, the pronoun him ends with m. When you're trying to decide whether to use who or whom, ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him. That's the trick: if you can answer the question being asked with him, then use whom, and it's easy to remember because they both end with m. For example, if you're trying to ask, "Who (or whom) do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." Him ends with an m, so you know to use whom. But if you are trying to ask, "Who (or whom) stepped on Squiggly?" the answer would be "He stepped on Squiggly." There's no m, so you know to use who. So that's the quick and dirty trick: if you can't remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence, just remember that him equals whom.

Thanks grammar girl. I don't know who you are, but a bit your not as hot as the cartoon of you on the website.

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