Whom vs Who : How and When to Use ?

Many people often search for ‘how to use who vs whom correctly’ even as a native speaker. Naturally, you would not like to get embarrassed among the public only due to your incorrect English. However, you need not feel bad about it, as English is ever-evolving and consistently mispronounced. But, one must take the initiative to learn it correctly as much they can.

So, both ‘who’ and ‘whom’ are pronouns that seem similar while speaking in a running style. But, there lies a significant difference between the two. We will further discuss when to use who vs whom with examples but let’s talk over the need of the hour first.

Why are people getting curious over whom vs who?

However, many people stay confused and intermix two different phrases, ‘who’ and ‘whom’ on several occasions. But, when to use whom or who is not the only issue of English language with people. There are many such examples and phrases which gets juxtaposed due to their supposed similar usage, such as that-which, whose-whom, for-of, etc. 

People these days are becoming vigilant towards such speaking problems and looking for their correct meaning and examples for use. Some of the possible reasons towards this gesture of people might be;

• The growing influence and necessity of English at various places
• Growing fondness towards this language may be one of the reason
• How to know when to use who vs whom for the precision in their writing assignments
• Preparation of the upcoming interviews
• To read and understand the meaning of novels or any write-up well
• Preparation of any competitive examination 

So, these are some of the compelling and imperative causes of people to learn the English language. Therefore, below-discussed are a few of the fundamental differences between whom and who. However, you can also ask the experts of English or assignment writers about the differences. But, this excerpt will help you understand anything related to this better.

What is the difference between who and whom?

No matter how many times you have used it likely, no matter how similar they sound, but there lies a considerable difference between who and whom. The only similarity between the two is that both are examples of a pronoun. However, ‘who’ is a subjective pronoun and ‘who’ is an objective pronoun. The former is used while acting as the verb, whereas later works as an object upon “whom” the action is performed. You can get English homework help. Meanwhile, ‘whom’ can be both an object of verb and preposition.

Examples of who;

• Who is recommended for this award?
• Who can accompany me on this London trip?

Examples of whom;

• To whom is this award recommended?
• I am still wondering, whom should I accompany for my London trip?

How to use ‘who’ and ‘whom’?

It is pretty simple to understand the usages of ‘who’, which is a subject of a verb. However, a few complications arise in the use of ‘whom’. ‘whom’ is basically an objective of ‘who’. For instance, who is standing for whom?

To understand when to use whom better, you must understand ‘what is an object?’. 

Object: In grammatical terms, the object is a noun or equivalent nouns such as a pronoun, clause or gerund. An object receives the action of the verb to complete the purpose or the meaning of the preposition. E.g. whom.

‘Who’ is just a pronoun used in the place of a noun or some phrases of a noun for the reference of someone’s name or a term which has already been mentioned in a sentence once. However, ‘who’ is replaced by ‘whom’ when there is an acting verb or some preposition to complete the meaning. 

When to use whom or who?

(explanation with examples)

Examples and real-life situations work best to make people understand the most complex of the concepts. Hopefully, some will happen here as well. So, let’s move on to some further clarification of who and whom through some relevant examples. 

Statement 1: They bought some blank papers from the market; my daughter spill ink on them; I want to apologize.

Now, let’s move on with the examples to learn how to use who vs whom correctly in our daily lives. So, ‘who is mainly used as an interrogative statement in the place of nouns or their phrases. 

Example; 

• Who told my daughter about those papers?
• Who should I apologize for my daughter’s behaviour?

However, these two sentences may sound fine. But one must look and examine it from the grammarian’s perspective. So, you shall put both the who’s at the object’s position to determine its correctness. Now, in the statement, “who told my daughter about the papers”. Let any XYZ told my daughter about the papers, where the action is already done. So, XYZ is a subject of the verb and who is a subjective pronoun. So, ‘who has been correctly placed in this sentence. Best solution for students who think “write my paper for me”.

In the following sentence, “who should I apologize for my daughter’s behaviour?” there is some XYZ as an object of the preposition. So, ‘who’ shall grammatically be replaced as ‘whom’. So, the correct would be, ‘whom should I apologize for my daughter’s behaviour?’ or ‘To whom should I apologize for my daughter’s behaviour?’. 

Therefore, these are some of the basic rules of how to use who vs whom correctly. One can always refer to these notes for easy understanding and correct placement of ‘who’ and ‘whom’ in their papers.