[1913 Webster]
English
Pronoun
The pronoun who, in the English
language, is the interrogative
and relative
pronoun that is used to refer to human beings.
The corresponding interrogative
pronouns for non-sentient beings are what and which, and the relative
pronouns are that and
which. That and which are sometimes used in contexts where who
might be a more suitable choice, and who is likewise used in
contexts where that or which would be a more suitable choice. In
etymology, the
spelling represents the expected outcome of Old
English hwâ, while the actual pronunciation represents a
divergent outcome. It is cognate with Latin quis and
Greek
ποιός.
Case forms
Traditionally, who is the subjective (nominative) form only. According to traditional prescriptive grammar, who is a subjective pronoun (subject of the side clause), and whom is the corresponding dative pronoun (an object of the side clause). Whose is the possessive form, which is sometimes confused with who's, a contraction of who is. See also: English declension.- He is someone to whom I owe a great deal. ("I" is subject; "whom" is the object referring to the sentence subject he)
- He is someone who is a great guy. ("Who" is subject of the subordinate clause)
- He is someone whose help I appreciate. ("Whose" is adjunct to help which is possessed by the sentence subject he)
The form who increasingly replaces whom in
objective case contexts. According to the OED (2nd edition,
1989), whom is "no longer current in natural colloquial speech".
Lasnik and Sobin (2000) argue that surviving occurrences of whom
are not part of ordinary English grammar, but the result of
extra-grammatical rules for producing "prestige" forms.
Whom remains in significant use following a
preposition (see
examples immediately below). In informal contexts, the preposition
may instead be placed at the end (see preposition
stranding), and the word who may be omitted where it is used as
a relative pronoun. For example:
- (Relative, formal): He is someone to whom I owe a great deal.
- (Interrogative, formal): To whom did you give it?
- (Relative, informal): He is someone (who) I owe a great deal to.
- (Interrogative, informal): Who did you give it to?
Rules for determining who vs. whom in traditional usage
Use with prepositions
Whom is the form used when prepositions are involved.
Again, this is analogous to personal pronouns, for which the
objective form is also used after a preposition. For example:
- To whom have you been talking? (Compare: You have been talking to him.)
- For whom have you taken these marvellous photographs? (You have taken these marvellous photographs for him.)
- With whom are you going to the cinema? (You are going to the cinema with him.)
- He sent gifts to his granddaughter, of whom he was fond. (He sent gifts to his granddaughter; he was fond of her.)
- He sent gifts to his granddaughter, whom he was fond of.
Forms with who in which the preposition does not
immediately precede the pronoun are commonly judged acceptable in
everyday use, and in spoken use especially:
- He sent gifts to his granddaughter, who he was fond of.
Indirect object with or without to
The indirect
object is normally formed with to, so is generally just a
particular example of the usage with prepositions (to whom). In
some situations, whom can also be used by itself to represent the
indirect object. However, this is only really used in contexts
where the direct object is omitted:
- Whom will you tell?"
In fact, the following is normally considered
acceptable in everyday use, especially in speech:
- Who will you tell?
Where the direct object is expressed, to is
generally included, even where an analogous sentence using a
personal pronoun might use the pronoun as the indirect
object:
- You will tell him a story.
But:
- To whom will you tell a story?
When the to does not immediately precede the
pronoun, either who or whom is generally considered
acceptable:
- Whom will you tell a story to? [Rather formal.]
- Who will you tell a story to? [Less formal, and more common in fact.]
Who(m)(so)ever
According to traditional grammar and guides to
usage, the relative pronouns who(m)ever and who(m)soever take the
case appropriate to their internal clause:
- Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods. (Albert Einstein)
Whoever is in the nominative because it is the
subject of undertakes in the noun clause whoever
undertakes...
Similarly:
- Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone.
Whoever is in the nominative because it is the
subject of is in the relative clause whoever is without sin
(compare: he [or she] is without sin).
But in this case whomever is used:
- Whomever you meet there is bound to be interesting.
The accusative form whomever is right, because it
is the object of meet (compare: you meet her [or him]), and
whomever you meet there is the subject of is in the whole
sentence.
Usage is variable, however: whomever is often
employed and defended where the rules given above would require
whoever, just as whom is often used as the subject of a verb in
more complex situations (see next section).
Subject whom
A special problem arises in constructions like
this:
- Beethoven, who you say was a great composer, wrote only one opera.
The form given with who is safe, and even beyond
reproach (since who is the subject of was). Nevertheless, many use
and defend “whom” in such a sentence. The use of whom may arise
from confusion with a form like this, in which whom is used
according to the standard rules:
- Beethoven, whom you consider a great composer, wrote only one opera.
Here is an example from The Age newspaper
(Melbourne, Australia), which in April 1999 syndicated an article
from the Washington Post concerning the Columbine
massacre:
- But if others were involved, it was Harris and Klebold whom students said seemed the tightest, who stood apart from the rest of their clique.
The Washington Post's
original article "correctly" had who students said, but
The Age
altered this as a matter of house style
to whom students said. (The continuation with the parallel
construction who stood apart illustrates how The Age style can lead
to inconsistencies.)
Even the King James
Bible has the problematic whom as a subject at least six times,
and has been much censured for it:
- He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? (Matthew 16:15; cf. Matthew 16:13, Mark 8:27,29, Luke 9:18,20)
(Technically, ye is the subject associated with
the verb say in But whom say ye that I am? and I is the subject
associated with the verb am. Who[m] is a
subject complement, as it would be in Who am I? or I am who? It
is not an
object complement.)
There are similar examples in Shakespeare:
- Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown'd, [...] (The Tempest, III, 3)
- [...] going to seek the grave / Of Arthur, whom they say is kill'd to-night / On your suggestion. (King John, IV, 2)
Daniel Defoe also uses subject whom, here
apparently affected by the proximity of him:
- They told me that when they were so knocked down, the rest of their company rescued them, and stood over them fighting till they were come to themselves, all but him whom they thought had been dead;[...] (The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Chapter 6, Part 1)
In this case, who[m] is the subject of had been
dead.
The OED traces subject whom
back to the 15th century, while Jespersen (1965 [1924], appendix)
cites even earlier examples from Chaucer.
References
- The Philosophy of Grammar