A language use tidbit: Who/Whom

Posted By on March 9, 2024

rolling eyes emojiLanguage usage is not one of my particular strengths … therefore I’m with the thought that “when in doubt reach for whom over who, just to be safe. Then get the ‘overcorrected’ mistakes …”  — LINK

whom who

A trick to figure it out, which we’ve mentioned before, is to substitute he or she in your sentence—and if it works, then it’s probably a case for who/whoever. A him/her calls for whomever.

So, in the first example, He reached a threshold and was banished (so: whoever). In the second example, videos were sent to him (so: whom). In the third example, the issue is who is closest with him/her/them (so: whom). It’s a way of figuring out if we are dealing with a subject pronoun or an object being acted upon.

Comments

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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