Carolynn’s Clues :: Mental Blocks—Who Doesn’t Have Them?

by Carolynn Carey

Perhaps my problem with who and whom doesn’t really constitute a mental block, but it certainly feels that way sometimes.

I know I’m supposed to be an expert of sorts here. I should know such basic facets of the English language hands down. The problem is, I just don’t, because no matter how often I read up on who versus whom, there are always instances in which I’m just not sure.

Of course I know that who is in the nominative case and whom in the objective. It’s easy enough to feel confident about saying “Who is at the door?” or “To whom should I address the letter?”

But what about a sentence such as “Whom shall I say is calling?” Does that sound wrong to you? If not, welcome to my club. (“Who shall I say is calling?” is correct because who is the subject of “is calling.”)

As usual when I have a question about grammar or usage, I consult The Chicago Manual of Style. Because the authors of that style manual can explain much more clearly than I, I’ll simply quote them (from section 5.52 of the online 16th edition:

In the nominative case, who is used in two ways: (1) as the subject of a verb {Who washed the dishes today?} and (2) as a predicate nominative after a linking verb {It was who?}. In the objective case, whom is used two ways: (1) as the object of a verb {Whom did you see?} and (2) as the object of a preposition {For whom is this building named?}.

However, in section 5.63, the manual goes on to say that it’s not always easy to determine which is correct, who or whom. First they point out that “because the words are so often found in the inverted syntax of an interrogative sentence, their true function in the sentence can be hard to see unless one sorts the words into standard subject–verb–object syntax.” In the example above (“Who shall I say is calling?”), they suggest changing the syntax into “I should say who is calling” to make it easier to judge which pronoun is correct.

The Chicago Manual of Style points out other instances in which it’s difficult to determine the correct pronoun, and the examples given are enough to convince me I’m not really a dunce regarding who and whom. After all, the correct usage is far from intuitive.

Some authors of books on grammar and usage suggest substituting he and him in the sentence when trying to determine whether to use who or whom. If he sounds right, use who; if him sounds right, use whom.

I wish I could impart several hints to make it easy to decide whether who or whom is correct. I’d love to have an easy way to always feel secure about my choice, but that isn’t likely to happen. But at least I feel fairly certain that the word Who in the title of this blog is used correctly.

Tagged as: grammar, who versus whom