Who,whom

We usewhoas an interrogative pronoun to begin questions about people:

Who’s next?

Whomakes the decisions here?

Whodid you talk to?

We usewhoin indirect questions and statements:

The phone rang. She asked mewhoit was.

Can you tell mewhoI should talk to.

I can’t rememberwhotold me.

We can ask emphatic questions usingwhoeverorwho on earthto express shock or surprise. We stresseverandearth:

Whoeverdoes she think she is, speaking to us like that?(stronger thanWho does she think she is?)

Who onearthhas left all this rubbish here?(stronger thanWho has left all this rubbish here?)

We usewhoas a relative pronoun to introduce a relative clause about people:

The police officerwhocame was a friend of my father’s.

He shared a flat with Anne Bolton,whohe married, and eventually they moved to Australia.

Whomis the object form ofwho. We usewhomto refer to people in formal styles or in writing, when the person is the object of the verb. We don’t use it very oftenand we use it more commonly in writing than in speaking.

We usewhomcommonly with prepositions. Some formal styles prefer to use a preposition beforewhomthan to leave the preposition ‘hanging’ at the end of the sentence:

Before a job interview it is a good idea, if you can, to find out some background information about the peoplefor whomyou would be working.(preferred in some formal styles to… about the peoplewhomyou would be workingfor)

Over 200 people attended the ceremony, manyof whomhad known Harry as their teacher.

We use it in relative clauses:

She gave birth in 1970 to a boywhomshe named Caleb James.

We use it in indirect questions and statements:

He didn’t askforwhomI had voted.

He told me where he went andwithwhom.(preferred in some formal styles toHe told me where he went andwho with.)