who and whom

Who? Whom? If you're confused, you're not alone. Indeed, whom may sound better, perhaps more refined, to some; however, many of us prefer who in almost all cases.

To choose between who and whom, you need to figure out how the pronoun functions in its own clause.

If in doubt, reword the clause to see what personal pronoun you need. Then replace that pronoun with who or whom, using the following rule:

• Use WHO for I, he, she, they, we:

  • Sgt. Rupinder traced the men who stole the money.
    (Reword: They stole the money—so use who.)
  • Sarah guessed who the winner would be.
    (For a pronoun after the verb be, reverse the order: the winner would be X = X would be the winner. Then reword: She [or he] would be the winner—so use who.)

• Use WHOM for me, him, her, them, us:

  • Whom did the witness identify?
    (Reword: The witness identified him—so use whom.)
  • Ms. Jeffries, whom you were expecting, cannot attend.
    (Reword: You were expecting her—so use whom.)

Note: In informal modern English, questions usually begin with who rather than whom, even when the pronoun is the object of a preposition: Who did you give the cheque to? The object pronoun and a more formal structure are appropriate in formal writing: To whom did you give the cheque?

In preparing this linguistic reminder, we consulted the following sources:

The Canadian Oxford Guide to Writing (2008)
The Canadian Press Stylebook (2008)
The Gregg Reference Manual (2006)
Guide to Canadian English Usage (2007)
"The How-Tos of Who and Whom" (Frances Peck, Language Update, vol. 37, no.1, 2004)
Practical English Usage (2005)