"Who" or "Whom"?

"Who" or "whom"?

Wow cocktail party attendees and readers of your prose alike with 100%-correct use of "who" versus "whom" with this neat trick: if the clause is missing its subject, use "who," and if the clause already has a subject, use "whom."

Example: Ernestine Tomlin's grammatically correct—if absurd—"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"

The relative pronoun "who" or "whom" can confuse even proficient English speakers because it comes in two cases, subjective ("who") or objective ("whom").

If the clause has no subject, "who" becomes the subject and appears in the subjective case:
The child [who was chosen by the coach hit a home run].
(Use "who" because it's the subject of the clause "who was chosen by the coach.)

But if the clause already has a subject, use the objective case:
The child [whom the coach chose hit a home run].
(Use "whom" because the clause already has a subject: the coach.)

Still need to know more?

See C. Edward Good's concise, useful and fun A Grammar Book For You And I...Oops, Me!.