Who or whom? That's the question

[lorenzo]

Well, Sorry for the joke ??

My question is simple and probably has been already answered.
Which is the correct usage of the words who/whom? I can not figure out.

Many thanks for this website.

Lorenzo


Regards

Lorenzo

[Erin]

Funny joke! Humor is always welcome!

Here's what we teach kids in our schools:

If you'd use he in a sentence, then you can also use who. If you'd use him in a sentence, then use whom.

For example:

Lorenzo: I gave it to him.

Erin: You gave it to whom??

Lorenzo: I gave it to him, can't you hear me????

Erin: Oh, sorry. You gave it to him. Why?

Lorenzo: Because he needed it.

Erin: Who needed it??

Lorenzo: Dude, are you hard of hearing or what? He needed it, the same guy.

Erin: Oh, sorry. Actually, I can hear you fine, but I have to pretend I can't hear you so that this example works better.

Lorenzo: Oh, I see...

Hehehehe... Anyway, the point is that who is for subjects and whom is for objects.

BTW, TOEFL does NOT NOT NOT NOT test the difference between who and whom. I'll move this post later...

And please... pardon my jokes!!


Erin

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San Francisco, CA USA

[lorenzo]

Many thanks for the clear (and scenical) answer.

One last question, you said "BTW, TOEFL does NOT NOT NOT NOT test the difference between who and whom."

Meaning that there is not going to be any question where the wrong word is who/whom when it should be whom/who. Am I right? I even don't know if I make myself understandable.

Lorenzo

Regards

Lorenzo

[Erin]

One last question, you said "BTW, TOEFL does NOT NOT NOT NOT test the difference between who and whom."

Meaning that there is not going to be any question where the wrong word is who/whom when it should be whom/who.

Lorenzo

Yes! You are right!!

In other words you will NEVER see questions like this on the real TOEFL (you may see them in practice books, though, because the writer of the practice book might not know this about the TOEFL):

Tom, ______ is a friend of mine, did very well on the test.
O that
O who
O whom
O whose

Tom whom is a friend of mine did very well on the test.



Got it? I hope so--it's important to know that this question will NOT appear on the test, so don't waste your time on this grammar point if you don't really need to or want to!!


Erin

Please post further questions here.

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San Francisco, CA USA