2021-03-25 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด W – who & whom

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2021-03-25

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด W – who & whom

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง who = ‘HOO’

ออกเสียง whom = ‘HOOM’

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree

Who = what person or persons:

Who was that woman?

Not to be confused with:

whom = objective case of who:

To whom are you speaking?

Dictionary.com

When Do You Use “Who” vs. “Whom”?

Over the last 200 years, the pronoun whom has been on a steady decline. Despite its waning use in speech

and ongoing speculation about its imminent extinction,

whom still holds a spot in the English language,

particularly in formal writing.

Understanding when and how to use this pronoun can set your writing apart.

If whom is on the decline,

then who must be growing in popularity.

The two—as you’ll recall from English class

—are related and may seem interchangeable. But are they really?

Who vs. whom, what’s the difference?

Whom is often confused with who.

Who is a subjective-case pronoun,

meaning it functions as a subject in a sentence,

and whom is an objective-case pronoun,

meaning it functions as an object in a sentence.

When to use who

Who, like I, he, she, we, and they,

is used as the subject of a sentence. That means it performs actions.

Examples of who in a sentence

See how who is used as a subject in different ways:

• Who rescued the dog?
• I’m not sure who called my name.
• Do you know who baked this cake?

Who is doing the rescuing in the first sentence.

Similarly, who called and who baked in the other examples.

When to use whom

Whom is a little trickier. Like me, him, her, us, and them,

whom is the object of a verb or preposition.

That means whom is acted on.

 Examples of whom in a sentence

See how whom acts as an objectin each of these instances:

• Whom did you see?
• His grandchildren, whom he loves so much, are in town for a visit.
• The cook, whom we just hired, failed to show up to work today.

In the first sentence, whom is being seen here, not doing the seeing.

In the other examples,

whom is being loved and hired.

Whom is the direct object in all three sentences.

Take a look at these sentences:

• She gave whom the package?
• Whom should I call first?
• My brother doesn’t remember whom he e-mailed the questions.

In these sentences, whom functionsas an indirect object.

That is the person on the receiving end of the action.

For example, the package was given to someone.

It was given to whom.

Whom also commonly appears when it follows a preposition,

as in the salutation “To whom it may concern.”

Does it concern he? No.

Does it concern him? Yes.

When in doubt,

substitute him (sometimes you’ll have to rephrase the sentence)

and see if that sounds right. If him is OK, then whom is OK.

If the more natural substitute is he, then go with who.

For example: You talked to who/whom?

It would be incorrect to say, “You talked to he?”,

but saying, “You talked to him?” makes grammatical sense.

So, you would ask, “You talked to whom?”

All of that said, in informal speech and writing,

speakers will often opt for who, where whom has traditionally been used.

This choice sounds more natural and less formalto most native English speakers.

Dictionary.com

USAGE FOR WHOM

It was formerly considered correct to use whom

whenever the objectiveform of who was required.

This is no longer thought to be necessary

and the objective form who is now commonly used,

even in formal writing:

there were several people there who he had met before.

Who cannot be used directly after a preposition

– the preposition is usually displaced,

as in the man (who) he sold his car to.

In formal writing whom is preferred in sentences like these:

the man to whom he sold his car.

There are some types of sentence in which who cannot be used:

the refugees, many of whom were old and ill, were allowed across the border

Dictionary.com

WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED WITH WHO

The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that

the choice must be determined by the grammar

of the clause within which this pronoun occurs.

Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause:

Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed.

Whom is the objective form:

Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance?

This methodof selecting the appropriate form is

generally characteristic of formal writing

and is usually followed in edited prose.

In most speech and writing, however,

since who or whom often occurs

at the beginningof the sentence or clause,

there is a strong tendency to choose

who no matter what its function.

Even in edited prose,

who occurs at least ten times as often as whom,

regardless of grammatical function.

Only whenit directly follows a preposition

is whom more likely to occur than who:

Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request.

In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare.

Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the “correct”

To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to?

However,

the notion that whom is somehow more “correct” or elegant than who

leads some speakers to makean inappropriate hypercorrection:

Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office.

See also than.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

whom or who?: Usage Guide

Pronoun

Observers of the language have been predicting the demise of whom

from about 1870 down to the present day.

one of the pronoun cases is visibly disappearing—the objective case whom — R. G. White (1870)

whom is dying out in England,

where "Whom did you see?" sounds affected — Anthony Burgess (1980)

Our evidence shows that no one—English or not—should expect whom to disappear momentarily;

it shows every indication of persisting quite a while yet.

Actual usage of who and whom—accurately described at the entries in this dictionary—does not appear to be markedly different from the usage of Shakespeare's time.

But the 18th century grammarians, propounding rules and analogies, rejecting other rules and analogies, and usually justifying both with appeals to Latin or Greek, have intervened between us and Shakespeare.

It seems clear that the grammarians' rules have had little effect on the traditional uses.

One thing they have accomplished is to encourage hypercorrect uses of whom.

whom shall I say is calling?

Another is that they have made some people unsure of themselves. said he was asked to step down, although it is not known exactly who or whom asked him — Redding (Conn.) Pilot

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

that, which,or who?: Usage Guide

Pronoun

In current usage

that refers to persons or things,

which chiefly to things and rarely to subhuman entities,

who chiefly to persons and sometimes to animals.

The notion that that should not be used to refer to persons

is withoutfoundation; such use is entirely standard.

Because that has no genitive form or construction,

of which or whose must be substituted for it

in contexts that call for the genitive.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

That vs. Which: Usage Guide

Pronoun

Although some handbooks say otherwise,

that and which are both regularly used to introduce restrictive clauses

 in edited prose.

Which is also used to introduce nonrestrictive clauses.

That was formerly used to introduce nonrestrictive clauses;

such use is virtually nonexistent in present-day edited prose,

thoughit may occasionally be found in poetry.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Usage Notes

For Whom the Grammar Rules

Just when is 'whom' the grammarian-approved choice?

What to Know

Whom is the objective case of who.

It is the form of who in the object position of a sentence,

and is functionally similar to them.

To determine when to use whom,

figure out if the "who" is the noun that receives the action of a verb

and is thus the object of the sentence

("Who gave it to you?" vs "You gave it to whom?").

One can communicate quite effectively in English

—that is, make oneself understood accurately

—entirely without whom.

But we suspect that for a number of you that is not enough.

We are quite certain, in fact, that some of you like whom very much

and want to know how to use it correctly. This article is for YOU.

When to Use 'Whom'

Whom is both simple and complicated.

It is simplein that it is simply the objective case of who,

which means that it's the form of who that is in the object position

in a sentence.

The pair of words is analogous to they and them:

just as we'd say(forgetting the lack of clarity)

"They helped them," we'd say "Who helped whom."

What exactly constitutesthe object position in a sentence

is where things get complicated.

An object, in grammatical terms, is a noun or noun equivalent

(such as a pronoun, gerund, or clause)

that receives the action of a verb

or that completes the meaning of a preposition

—so, for example,

sandwich in "They bought a sandwich";

it in "My dog ate it";

apologizing in "an appropriate time for apologizing";

and that it was true in "I was afraid that it was true."

Who is a pronoun,

which means that it's used instead of a noun or noun phrase

to refer to a noun/noun phrase that has already been mentioned

or that does not need to be named specifically.

Whom replaces who in spots where that word would receive

the action of the verbor complete the meaning of a preposition.

'Who' vs 'Whom' Examples

Let's look at some of the grammatical places

who tends to appear and see whether whom ought to go there instead.

Who often functions as an interrogative pronoun,

which means that it introduces questions that havenouns as the answer:

Who told my dog about that sandwich?

Who should my dog apologize to?

Both of these sentences sound natural with who,

but if we want to know whether whom is the grammarian's choice

in either of them, we'll have to determine

if each who is in the object position.

With questions, the easiest way to do this

is to reimagine the question as a statement.

"Who told my dog about that sandwich?"

becomes "X told my dog about that sandwich,"

with "X"standing for the unknown divulger of sandwich existence.

"X" is the subject of the verb told,

since "X" has done the telling, so who is indeed correct.

Reimaginingthe second question as a statement,

"Who should my dog apologize to?"

becomes "My dog should apologize to X."

"X" is the object of the preposition to,

so who should technically be whom:

"Whom should my dog apologize to?"

(If you don't like the terminal preposition

—which is ancient and perfectly grammatical

—you may prefer "To whom should my dog apologize?")

After all that, surely no one can claim that

keeping who and whom in their prescribed places is easy to do.

In fact, it's about as easy as keeping a dog from eating an unguarded,

and ostensibly abandoned, sandwich.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Usage Note:

According to the traditional rule,

who is a nominative pronoun (that is, it acts as the subject of a clause)

and whom is an objective pronoun (that is, it acts as a grammatical object).

Thus, it's correct to say I like the actor who supports the governor,

where the relative pronoun who is the subject of

supports the governor, or Who supports the governor?

where the interrogative pronoun who is the subject of

supports the governor.

Like other nominative pronouns,

who can also serve as the complement of a linking verb,

as in We learned who the governor's supporter is,

where who is the complement of the linking verb is

whose subject is the governor's supporter.

In contrast, whom is correct in

I despise the governor whom the actor supports

and Whom does the actor support?

where whom is the object of support,

and the governor whom the actor campaigned for

(or for whom the actor campaigned),

where it is the object of the preposition for.

Note that in all these cases,

whom is used when it is the object of the verb or preposition,

not when it merely comes after the verb or preposition.

When the relative pronoun is the subject of an embedded clause,

as in I wonder who supports the governor?

or I know nothing about who supports the governor,

who is correct and whom is an error,

because in these instances

it is the entire clause, not just the pronoun,

that is the object of the verb wonder

or the preposition about.

Despite the traditional grammatical distinctions outlined above,

in practice whom is uncommon in speech and everyday writing

because it has a formal tone.

In informal contexts,

who often replaces whom,

as in Who does the actor support?

or I despise the governor who the actor supports.

(A common workaround for the problematic choice

between formal whom and grammatically questionablewho

is to replace the relative pronoun with that,

converting the governor whom the actor supports

into the governor that the actor supports,

or to omit it altogether, yielding the governor the actor supports.)

Whom survives as the standard form

when it is the grammatical object of a preposition

that immediately precedes it,

as in the governor for whom (not for who) the actor campaigned.

Some usage guides insist that

who should be used only for humans,

and that which or that must be used for animals,

but that is not true when the animal is construed as similar to humans

because it is given a name, considered as an individual,

or credited with belief and volition.

In our 2013 ballot, 76 percent of the Usage Panel

accepted the use of who as a relative pronoun

in The dogs who obeyed the commands got a treat,

and the vast majority (93 percent) accepted it

in My spaniel Molly, who is two years old, has just had a litter of puppies.

See Usage Notes at else, that, whose.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

usage:

Traditional grammar rules

say that who is the correct form for the subject of a sentence or clause

(Who said that? The guard who let us in checked our badges), and whom is used for the object of a verb or preposition

(Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance?).

This distinction is observed less and less in current English.

The usage cited above is characteristic of formal writing

and is generally followed in edited prose.

In natural informal speech, however, whom is quite rare.

whom still prevails as the object of a preposition

when the preposition immediately precedes

(all patients with whom you have had contact),

but this juxtaposition tends to be avoided in both speech and writing,

esp. in questions (Who is this gift from?)

and sometimes by omission of the pronoun altogether

(all patients you have had contact with).

Collins COBUILD English Usage

Who & whom

Who and whom are pronouns.

1. asking for information

You use who when you are asking about someone's identity.

Who can be the subject, object, or complement of a verb.

It can also be the object of a preposition.

Who invited you?

Who are you?

Be Careful!
When who is the object of a verb or preposition,

it is followed by an auxiliary verb, the subject, and then the main verb.

When who is the object of a preposition,

the preposition must go at the end of the clause.

Don't use a preposition in front of who.

Who are you going to invite?

Who did you dance with?

Whom is a formal word which is sometimes used instead of 'who'.

Whom can only be the object of a verb or preposition.

Whom shall we call?

By whom are they elected?

Be Careful!
When whom is the object of a preposition,

the preposition must go in front of whom.

Don't use it at the end of a clause.

Don't say, for example 'Whom are they elected by?'

2. used in reported clauses

Who is often used in reported clauses.

She didn't know who I was.

We have to find out who did this.

3. used in relative clauses

Who and whom are used in both defining

and non-defining relative clauses.

He's the man who I saw last night.

Joe, who was always early, was there already.

The writer was Philip Pullman, for whom I have great respect.

In relative clauses,

you can use either who or which after a collective noun

such as family, committee, or group.

After who you usually use a plural verb.

After which you use a singular verb.

It is important to have a family who love you.

He is a member of a group which does a lot of charitable work.

Be Careful!
When who is the subject of a non-defining clause,

don't use another pronoun after it.

Don't say, for example, 'He told his mother, who she was very shocked'.

Say 'He told his mother, who was very shocked'.

Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary

who & whom

“Whom” has been dying an agonizing death for decades

—you’ll notice there are no Whoms in Dr. Seuss’s Whoville.

Many people never use the word in speech at all.

However, in formal writing, critical readers still expect it to be used when appropriate.

The distinctionbetween “who” and “whom” is basically simple:

“who” is the subject form of this pronoun

and “whom” is the object form.

“Who was wearing that awful dress at the Academy Awards banquet?”

is correct because “who” is the subject of the sentence.

“The MC was so startled by the neckline that he forgot to whom he was supposed to give the Oscar” is correct because “whom” is the object of the preposition “to.”

So far so good. Now consider this sort of question:

“Who are you staring at?”

Although strictly speaking the pronoun should be “whom,”

nobody who wants to be taken seriously would use it in this case,

though it is the object of the preposition “at.”

(Bothered by ending the sentence with a preposition?

See my “NonErrors” page.)

“Whom” is very rarely used even by careful speakers

as the first word in a question;

and many authorities have now conceded the point.

There is another sort of question

in which “whom” appears later in the sentence:

“I wonder whom he bribed to get the contract?”

This may seem at first similar to the previous example,

but here “whom” is not the subject of any verb in the sentence;

rather it is part of the noun clause which itself is the object of the verb “wonder.”

Here an old gender-biased but effective test for “whom” can be used.

Try rewriting the sentence using “he” or “him.”

Clearly “He bribed he" is incorrect; you would say “he bribed him.”

Where “him” is the proper word in the paraphrased sentence,

use “whom.”

Instances in which the direct object appears at the beginning of a sentence are tricky because we are used to having subjects in that position and are strongly tempted to use “who“:

“Whomever Susan admired most was likely to get the job.”

(Test: “She admired him.” Right?)

Where things get really messy is in statements

in which the object or subject status of the pronoun

is not immediately obvious.

Example: “The police gave tickets to whoever had parked in front of the fire hydrant.

” The object of the preposition “to” is the entire noun clause,

“whoever had parked in front of the fire hydrant,”

but “whoever” is the subject of that clause,

the subject of the verb “had parked.”

Here’s a case where the temptation to use “whomever” should be resisted.

Confused?

Just try the “he or him” test, and if it’s still not clear, go with “who.”

You’ll bother fewer people and have a fair chance of being right.