The choice between who and whom may be the most scary of all pronoun issues.
Use this method from
The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need to help calm your fears:
- First, remember to look only at the clause associated with who or whom. Sometimes there is only one clause and sometimes there are independent and dependent clauses.
- Next, scramble words in the clause (if you have to) so that the words form a statement, not a question.
- Now, substitute either he or him for who or whom. This will tell you whether to use who or whom. Use the mnemonic he=who, him=whom (the final m helps you remember the association).
- Be on the lookout for predicate nominatives (sometimes called a predicate noun, it renames the subject). After you scramble the words, if you have a linking verb rather than an action verb, use he (who) instead of him (whom).
Let's try it!
- (Who, Whom) pounded on the door last night?
In this sentence, no scrambling is necessary since you can substitute he and have a perfectly good sentence: He pounded on the door late last night. Since you used he, you would use who in the original sentence.
- (Who, Whom) were you meeting in the dark?
Scramble the words to make a statement; then, substitute
he or
him, and you have the statement "You were meeting him in the dark last night." Since you used
him in the new sentence, you know to use
whom in the original sentence.
- Dr. Frankenstein worried about (who, whom) the monster would be paired with during the Haunted Competition.
This sentence has two clauses, but you're only concerned with the clause that contains the who/whom question. Take the words after about, scramble them to make a statement, substitute he or him, and you have, "The monster would be paired with him during the Haunted Competition." Since you used him, you would know that the original sentence would use whom.
Now, ease your fears with these practice exercises!
- We helped the man who/whom was lost in the woods.
- She is the woman who/whom I told you about.
- I don't like people who/whom aren't compassionate.
- You will work with our senior engineers, who/whom you will meet later.
- Who/whom did the Democratic Party nominate in 1992?
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