Who vs. Whom - Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

[Aeschylus]

The fact that you have hypercorrections like "whom exactly was here last night?" shows that this is *not* natural English.

I'm very strict with my Latin students about distinguishing nominative quis ("who?") from dative/accusative/ablative cui/quem/quo. And I even tell them that thinking of English "whom" (originally a dative form) can help them keep things straight, but also that I find "whom" utterly pedantic except when immediately preceded by a "preposition" (and those can go at the end!!).

[WErwin11]

I finally met the author *to whom I'd been hoping to talk.

[SixOutOfAHundred]

@WErwin11 You can end sentences in prepositions.

[ChazMyTube]

At 1:00, this video exemplifies my favorite : people who go the effort of correctly saying ".. the author whom I'd been hoping to talk to," getting the pronoun correct and then leaving the preposition dangling off the end, to fend for itself?

Makes Van Gogh want to bite his other ear off?

Perhaps, giving it a little thought, this could be recast as "...whom I'd wanted to meet" ?~sCz

[RTube7]

This is the most informative explanation I have found on this subject.

I was getting so tired of that he/him mnemonic jazz because it doesn't really

educate you. It's just an easy way out when it's not really so difficult to learn.

This is a perfect explanation. Thank you so much for posting it.

[RTube7]

I think people have been using who excessively because they simply never bothered to learn the rules. Why throw out rules just because people can't be bothered with learning them ? I think people should learn the rules and use them, regardless. For instance, when I place an order for a hamburger I will say, "May I have a hamburger ?" I will not say, "Can I get a hamburger ?" That is simply not correct, but a lot of people will frame there sentences that way. Why should I follow them ?

[tf2whackyengineer]

Their next video should be on the origin and complete meaning of the phrase "at large". Only knowing one common use of it, I half expected the cops to bust in the door looking for this fugitive editor.

[finalcloud13]

IMO, the word whom is becoming increasingly obsolete and I'd say just replace all uses for whom with who.

[katezeegreat]

I remember it this way: Ask a question, and if the noun ends with a consonant (him/her/them) it's WHOM and if it ends with a vowel or "y" it's WHO. You went with whom? I went with him! Who is coming over? They are! I've never heard of anyone else using this shortcut, though.

[GiveCourage]

I love you!! Thanks!!!

[Netugi]

Oh my god, thanks for clearing that up... I've looked up on the internet about that, but I'd still have a hard time understanding where to use it. This video helped me a lot with that.

[DefyNottheLoris]

I love these videos! Keep posting!

[Zoldin]

Peter, you're not quite as hot as Kory, but that's okay we love you too. <3

[oisiaa]

It is so confusing.

[Keiragirl]

since neglish is my second language, Ive been using who and whom in the correct sense and have been giving some quite odd looks from people who'd never heard of "whom". But I will keep using it like this, just because I like it :)

[knoose]

Nice. Thanks.