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Pronouns:
Who and Whom
This
month we’re continuing our look at pronouns and
focusing on who
and whom.
These two words are troublesome for many,
especially in speech.
The good thing is that in speech, we’re held to
a slightly lower standard of accuracy and excellence;
it’s sometimes tough to come up with the correct form
when our mouths and minds are moving so quickly.
Most experts recommend using who in speech
because it just sounds better!
And whom, which may be correct, can sound
pretentious even when used correctly.
In
writing, however, we don’t get off that lightly.
Writing is, by its very nature, a slower process,
giving us time to think about words, usage, and forms.
Making an error in writing also allows a
discerning reader to return again and again to the
mistake, possibly getting more and more upset.
So,
let’s look at who and whom, whoever and whomever.
They’re interrogative pronouns (used in asking
questions), and they follow the basic pronoun rules.
There are three quick steps to take in
determining which to use:
1.
Always focus on the clause following who and whom
when trying to figure out which to use.
2.
Try a simple substitution:
he
for who
and him
for whom.
You could use other pronouns as substitutes, but he
and him
sound like who
and whom
and are easy to remember because of that.
3.
If necessary, rewrite the sentence slightly to
allow the substitution.
Here’s
an example:
“May
I tell her who/whom is calling?”
While many of us mistakenly use whom, thinking it
sounds elegant, it’s wrong in this sentence.
Look at the words following who and whom:
“is calling.”
Your mind might create one of several versions
using he/him:
“May I tell her he/him is calling?”
“I may tell her he/him is calling.”
“He/Him is calling.”
No
matter which version you choose, you end up using he as
the subject of “is calling.”
Therefore, the correct choice is
“May I tell her who
is calling?”
See
what you can do with the small quiz below, which comes
from my Grammar
for Grown-ups program:
1. The question of (who/whom) should pay for the
cleanup is bothering me.
2. You may vote for (whoever/whomever) you wish.
3. You may vote for (whoever/whomever) appeals to
you.
4. (Who/Whom) were you talking to?
5. (Who/Whom) did they say was chosen?
Answers:
| 1. |
Who
– He
should pay for the cleanup.
This one should have been easy because
it’s a straight substitution.
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| 2. |
whomever
– You wish to vote for him.
This sentence and #3 are easy to confuse.
In both cases, there’s a preposition
(for) that seems to demand using him/whom.
Last month I mentioned that when a
pronoun follows a preposition, the pronoun is
almost always in the objective case.
In this case, however, we have to think
about the job the pronoun (who or whom) is
doing; automatically picking whom
based on a preposition can be wrong!
In this sentence, it’s right.
But in #3, it’s wrong.
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| 3. |
whoever
– He
appeals to you.
Yes, there’s that pesky preposition
“for.”
But in this sentence, it does not
determine the pronoun’s form.
We use who
because we need a subject for “appeals to
you.”
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| 4. |
Whom
– Were you talking to him?
“Whom were you talking to?” is
correct usage, but it might be tough to say with
a straight face.
It does sound a bit pretentious,
especially in ordinary conversation.
Most of us will continue to say, “Who
were you talking to?”
But in writing, let’s get in the habit
of using whom.
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| 5. |
Who
– They did say he
was chosen.
(Did they say he
was chosen?)
Again, a simple substitution. |
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The
other pronouns I promised to talk about are reflexive or
compound personal pronouns – those ending in self
or selves
(myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
yourselves, themselves).
Many people are now using myself
in sentences that call for me,
probably because it sounds so elegant, and, of course,
because of the confusion between I
and me.
But we only use these reflexive pronouns to
direct action of the verb back to the subject, who must
be the same person, or as intensifiers.
Think mirror image!
“I
hurt myself”
is correct because I
and myself
are the same person.
“We
satisfied ourselves
that the workbook was correct.”
Correct, because we
and ourselves
are the same people.
“Jon
asked Fred and myself
to go to the movies” is incorrect, because Jon
and myself
are not the same person.
In that sentence, of course, the correct choice
would be “me.”
“They
themselves heard Ellen say she would
attend” again is correct usage because themselves,
used as an intensifier, refers to the same people as they.
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