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Ok that's it!! I've had it!! I just read someone's thread in the BJJ forum who can't seem to get the word "whom" right and it's driving me crazy. People just throw this word out to try and sound more "intellectual" but you're really sounding like an idiot! I know I know, big fat hairy deal. But it's like nails down a chalkboard. ARGH!!!!!!!
Here's the deal on using whom:
1. You would use it when in a prepsitional phrase, that is whenever it comes soon after a preposition.
ex.
a. The doctors performed a surgery on the patient, in whom they found a tumor.
b. Give the ball back to the person to whom it belongs.
2. Whom is used when recieving the action of the sentence, as the direct object.
ex.
a. Whom did you see? (the person being seen receives the action)
b. I said I was sorry to the person whom I hit. (Hitting the person is the action here)
3. You do not use whom for a subject of the sentence, or the person about whom the sentence is referring.
ex.
a. Whomever wants to go to the movies should let me know by Friday.
This should read:
Whoever wants to go to the movies should let me know by Friday.
b. I slapped the person in the face whom told me to shut up.
Even though there is an action here, the word "person" recieves the action of the slapping, and whom is a subject of the verb "told." Note how this differs from rule #2 example b.
It should read:
I slapped the person in the face who told me to shut up.
Hope this clears things up.
-Hikage
Here's the deal on using whom:
1. You would use it when in a prepsitional phrase, that is whenever it comes soon after a preposition.
ex.
a. The doctors performed a surgery on the patient, in whom they found a tumor.
b. Give the ball back to the person to whom it belongs.
2. Whom is used when recieving the action of the sentence, as the direct object.
ex.
a. Whom did you see? (the person being seen receives the action)
b. I said I was sorry to the person whom I hit. (Hitting the person is the action here)
3. You do not use whom for a subject of the sentence, or the person about whom the sentence is referring.
ex.
a. Whomever wants to go to the movies should let me know by Friday.
This should read:
Whoever wants to go to the movies should let me know by Friday.
b. I slapped the person in the face whom told me to shut up.
Even though there is an action here, the word "person" recieves the action of the slapping, and whom is a subject of the verb "told." Note how this differs from rule #2 example b.
It should read:
I slapped the person in the face who told me to shut up.
Hope this clears things up.
-Hikage
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