The Who or Whom Problem

Is it who or whom? That is the question a lot of people ask. You have probably asked it before, but like most people, you have just let it pass without pursuing the issue further. But you soon discover that it keeps haunting you again.

Okay, let us settle this once and for all.

Flex your fingers and hands and beat the sleep out of your head. We are going to wrestle this.

To begin with, you ought to know that there is what is known as the objective case, and what is known as the subjective case of a noun or pronoun.

Take note that Who and Whom are pronouns.

The objective case refers to the form the pronoun takes when it is the object of the verb or the receiver of the action.

So in this case, whom is the objective case of the pronoun who. Whereas Who itself is the subjective case.

Okay, don’t complain. I have not explained that yet.

The Subjective Case is the form the pronoun takes when it is the subject of a verb, or the performer of the action.

Now here is the meat of the matter.

When we are using the pronouns who or whom, we are using them in reference to another noun or noun phrase.

For example:

The man who stole the book was apprehended.

In the above sentence, the pronoun who refers to the noun man.

Words or phrases to which a subsequent word refers to are known as antecedents.

Uh huh.

Now, when, the antecedent of the pronoun is the cause of the action, we use who; as in the above sentence. We use who because the man is the subject of the verb stole.

Got that, eh?

Excellent. We are not done yet. Just a little more.

If the antecedent is the receiver of the action, we use whom.

Here is an example:

The man from whom you stole is looking for you.

In this example, note that the man is the object of the verb stole, so we use the objective case of the pronoun.

Um, I think we are done.

So, is it who or whom?

You got it now, huh?

Good. May we never ask that question again!

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