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. What exactly constitutes the object position in a sentence is where things get complicated.Īn 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.' It is simple in 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. A Detailed Guide for Hardcore Grammar Fans In these cases, it is perfectly standard to use who. ' Who did you speak to?') in which whom may be technically correct but still feel fussy or unnatural. Our ears are our guides, and there are many constructions (like ' Whom did you speak to?' vs. But English is extremely flexible, and actual usage doesn’t always follow the strict rules of grammar.
The choice between who and whom can sometimes be confusing, and this has always been the case.
What You Really Need to Know About 'Who' and 'Whom'
