How to use the word "whom" correctly
 

For starters, who is the subject forum of the word, whom is the object form. But what does this mean?

If word in question is the subject of the sentence, use who. If this is not the case, the word is a subject, most likely modified by the rest of the sentence, use whom.

A simple test to see which is proper is to replace who/whom with he/him. If he sounds right, use who; if him is right, use whom. For example: since he did it and not him did it, use who did it; since we give something to him and not to he, use to whom. It gets tricky only when the preposition is separated from the who/whom as in Who/whom did you give it to? Rearrange the words in your head: "To whom did you give it?"

Now it's time to test yourself: http://webster.commnet.edu/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/who_quiz.htm

meany ;)

Nice piece...
but those two words still confuse me...
Then again, English is not my primary language.

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to put this in here or in the literature forum. Believe it or not, I've seen misuses of both words in there... :P

Hey, this was actually useful!! I'm usually pretty good at getting this right, but am not good at explaining it when the inevitable argument ensues as to which word is correct. Thanks!

You are quite welcome. Quite.

Remember:

As you go through life; it's not who you know that's important, but whom.

Man, always pride myself on my grammar skills but it got me. I got 11 of 15 correct. Not too shabby, but certainly not great. Damn! :)

Most. Ironic. Sentence. Ever.

Thanks for this post. I'm anal when it comes to grammar, and my wife hates it. It's good to know there's another grammar nerd out there.

to Whom it may Concern......Who Cares???!!!!!

did I get it right?

who... whom... not like anyone cares

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Great explaination and a great test. The test was great because I got 14 of 15 correct. Hopefully I will remember how to apply this when I actually need it. In the past I would usually just re-frame the sentance to avoid the word altogether (or guess).

simple answer... replace with He or him. you'll know. :-D

I got 14, so I guess that makes me someone who knows whom to ask about whoever asks whomever about who's going to use whose choice of words. Or something . .

woo! my english teacher taught me this :)

With the genius of he/him I got 15 out of 15.
Thanks for the tip.

I always had a problem with where and were, took me until I was 45 to work it out.