Who Even Knows How To Use “Whom” Anyway?

One sure-fire way to sound fancy is to (correctly) use “whom.” Consistently using it is so rare that we really only expect it from people like the Dowager Countess of Grantham (the posh grandmother on Downton Abbey, of course). It’s really quite easy to use, though, once you know one simple rule!

The Rule

Who is a subject (or nominative) pronoun, and whom is an objective pronoun. Easy, right? OK, maybe a little more explanation would clear things up.

Noun and Pronoun Cases

Cases describe the form that a noun or pronoun takes based on its function in a sentence. Here are the three cases:

• Nominative Case: The subject of a verb.
  • In the sentence “After the Beast’s polite request, Belle ate dinner with him,” “Belle” is the subject.

• Objective Case: The object of a verb.
  • In the sentence “After the Beast’s polite request, Belle ate dinner with him,” “him” is the object.

• Possessive Case: This case shows ownership.
  • In the sentence “After the Beast’s polite request, Belle ate dinner with him,” “the Beast’s” is in the possessive case. (Note that this case is sometimes called the genitive case.)

Most nouns don’t change form, whether they’re in the nominative or objective case. For example, in the sentence “This boy ran into that boy,” the first “boy” is the subject and the second is the object, and we don’t have to change the word for it to function comfortably in both roles. Here’s a little chart with a few examples that might help:

Things start to get a little bit trickier when we introduce pronouns. These are more likely to be different in the nominative and objective cases. For example, you might say “I went to the park with him,” but you wouldn’t say “Him went to the park with I.” That’s because “I” is a nominative pronoun and “him” is an objective pronoun.

INCORRECT: Us brought a cake over to our new neighbors. (“Us” is an objective pronoun; we need a nominative pronoun as the subject.)

CORRECT: We brought a cake over to our new neighbors.

INCORRECT: Him is going to the park with they. (“Him” is an objective pronoun sitting in a nominative spot and “they” is a nominative pronoun sitting in an objective spot.)

CORRECT: He is going to the park with them.

With that background knowledge, you’re ready to take on who vs. whom!

How To Test for Who vs. Whom

Now we know that if “who” is functioning as the actor or subject of a sentence, it should be “who”; if it’s the object of a sentence or phrase, it’s “whom.” But it can still be a little bit tricky to tell which is which, so there’s a handy test you can use to discover the correct answer.

All you need to do is to re-word the sentence using different pronouns to see what form you get. It’s more natural for most English speakers to recognize the nominative or objective forms of pronouns like “he” and “she” than it is for us to differentiate between “who” and “whom,” so swapping out “who” for another pronoun can help.

Let’s practice.

• This is the man whom you are looking for.
  • Re-worded: I’ll take the phrase that comes after “whom” and create a new sentence with it. “You are looking for him.” Since “him” is an objective pronoun, I know we need the objective form of “who” in the original sentence, thus “whom” is correct.
  • Another way to think about it is to test out the reverse. “You are looking for him” sounds correct, whereas “You are looking for he” sounds awkward.
• The clown who was at my party terrified everyone.
  • Re-worded: Who was at my party? He was at my party. “He” is a nominative pronoun, so “who” is correct in its nominative form.
  • Let’s test the reverse: “Him was at my party.” That’s definitely not right; nominative is the way to go.
• Who is going to the football game tonight?
  • Re-worded: “They are going to the football game tonight.” “They” is a nominative pronoun, so “who” is correct.
  • An objective pronoun would make it “Them are going to the football game tonight,” which is clearly incorrect.

When you’re re-wording the sentence to figure out who vs. whom, you can single out the phrase in the sentence that has the actor and action and pull it out to create and answer the question.

• Belle is the girl who will break the spell and set everyone in the Beast’s castle free.
  • I’ll single out the “who” phrase by finding the actor and action (subject and verb): Belle is the girl [who will break] the spell and set everyone in the Beast’s castle free.
  • Our phrase is “who will break.” Now, we make it a question. Who will break? She will break. “Her will break” sounds awkward, so we know that we need a nominative pronoun, thus “who” is correct and not “whom.”
  • CORRECT: Bell is the girl who will break the spell and set everyone in the Beast’s castle free.
  • INCORRECT: Bell is the girl whom will break the spell and set everyone in the Beast’s castle free.
• The villagers whom she petitioned for help would not come.
  • Singling out the “who” phrase: The villagers [whom she petitioned] for help would not come.
  • Making it a question: Who did she petition? She petitioned them. “Them” is an objective pronoun, so we need “whom.”
  • CORRECT: The villagers whom she petitioned for help would not come.
  • INCORRECT: The villagers who she petitioned for help would not come.

Now you’re armed with the knowledge of who vs. whom and you’re ready to live your best posh life!

Sources:

• Ebbitt, D. R., and W. R. Ebbitt. Index to English. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
• Einsohn, Amy. The copyeditor’s handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.