Page 745 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Using Who and Whom

2 Use who and whom correctly.

The use of who and whom poses difficulties for most people, partly
because whom seems to be slowly disappearing from everyday

speech. However, in academic writing, the distinction is still important.

Although who and whom may seem intimidating, there is a shortcut to

learning how to use these pronouns. Once you have mastered this

method, you will feel like an expert in the use of who and whom.

The Substitution Method for Who

and Whom

The first step in the shortcut is a substitution. You have already seen

in this chapter how natural it is—in most cases, anyway—to use the

subject pronoun he and the object pronoun him. You rarely make