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Posted on 04/30/2003 6:15:29 PM PDT by bannie
In a recent thread, we discussed teachers' various abilities/inabilities. With the banter about math "blocks," I had to start calling people on the frequent mis-usage of the pronoun "that."
I teased others--and I hope the understood my playful intent! Even true mathematicians can make simple mistakes in math. Likewise, even true grammarians can make simple mistakes in grammar. I only made note because of the subject of the thread (An English teacher who was having trouble passing a required math test).
In the thread, I mentioned that I could give a quick-fix lesson on how to determine whether one should use the pronoun "who" or the pronoun "whom."
The Rule:
WHO = SUBJECTIVE
WHOM = OBJECTIVE
or...
While "who" holds the grammatical position of a SUBJECT, "whom" holds the grammatical position of an OBJECT.
Subject = the "doer." Object = the DIRECT OBJECT or the INDIRECT OBJECT or the OBJECT of a preposition...the "do-ee."
THE TRICK:
IF replacing the who/whom in question with HE--simply because it SOUNDS BETTER--use WHO.
IF replacing the who/whom in question with HIM--simply because it SOUNDS BETTER--use WHOM.
IE:
With the question:
To who/whom should I give the "Offed by a Clinton" Award?
Try replacing the space with each, "he" and "him."
Although it's not totally "sensical," the better sounding choice is...
To HIM should I give...
(more clearly, Should I give the "Offed by a Clinton" award to HIM?
SOOOOOooooo...since "HIM" = "WHOM,"
the correct "who/whom-ness" of the question should be:
To WHOM should I give...?
IE:
Who/Whom was the oldest goat in the pool?
Try replacing the space with each, "he" and "him."
It makes much more sense to the ear to replace the who/whom with:
He was the oldest...
than with:
Him was the oldest...
SOOOOOoooooo....since "HE" = "WHO"...
The answer is...WHO was the oldest goat in the pool?
Very good. It just sounds right when you apply this rule...
Not correct, but it's snappy, so I'll go with it. ;-)
AAARRGGGHH! That's my pet peeve too. And when I use it correctly, I have had people "correct" me! I have been known to say things like, "That was a surprise to me...and Joe" to be correct and not engage in endless futile discussions with people who say things like "I seen him" but still try to correct my "he and I" usage!!!
I love this language!
The other odd thing about him is that he always gets hurt in the most minor accidents!
That's a tricky one, but you nailed it! "Who" is doing the "reminding", not "you".
I disagree, "whom" goes with "them" and "him". "They remind you of whom? They remind you of him?"
That's right. In the sentence. "Who do they remind you of?", "who" is the object of the preposition "of" and ought to be "whom." The subject of this sentence is "they" the predicate is "do remind you of whom," "you" is the direct object of the verb "remind" and the prepositional phrase, "of whom," is the indirect object.
Hank
There is a rule or device for this. Think of the first letter in each word - a in affect and e in effect. now think of a as in alter and e as in execute. Affect alters - effect executes.
For every time I've seen someone write 'chickne' I'll give you a nickle.
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Ah yes, my friend, but more than a few people think (or at least wonder) if the word isn't spelled the way it sounds: "c-h-i-c-k-i-n" (chik-in)
Thus: I before E except after C, and E before N in 'chicken'.
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