Page 746 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing
P. 746
mistakes with them because you use them all the time. Wouldn’t it be
nice if who and whom were as easy as he and him?
The good news is that they are—almost. Who is a subject pronoun,
just like he, so we can temporarily equate the two, like this:
who (or whoever) = he
Whom is an object pronoun, so we can temporarily equate whom with
him.
whom (or whomever) = him
Now, look at a sentence to see how the system works.
? No one cared (who, whom) cleaned up the mess.
Step 1: Ignore everything that comes before who or whom.
? No one cared (who, whom) cleaned up the mess.
Step 2: Substitute he for who and him for whom, and see which one
makes sense.
Who He cleaned up the mess.
Whom Him cleaned up the mess.
Because “He cleaned up the mess” makes sense, you can now
rewrite the sentence with confidence, using who in place of he.
