Grammar of whom

• 0 Questions: interrogative pronouns (what, who)

  We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. They are: who, which, whom, what and whose. These are also known as wh-words. Questions using these are called wh-questions:

• 1 Interrogative pronouns: uses

  We use who and whom on their own:

• 2 Relative pronouns

  Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses. The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that. The relative pronoun we use depends on what we are referring to and the type of relative clause.

• 3 Relative pronouns: whom

• 4 No relative pronoun

  In informal styles, we often leave out the relative pronoun. We only do this in defining relative clauses, and when the relative pronoun is the object of the verb. We don’t leave out the relative pronoun when it is the subject of the verb nor in non-defining relative clauses:

• 5 Relative pronouns: typical errors

• 6 Who, whom

  Who and whom are wh-words. We use them to ask questions and to introduce relative clauses.

• 7 Who as a question word

  We use who as an interrogative pronoun to begin questions about people:

• 8 Emphatic questions with whoever and who on earth

  We can ask emphatic questions using whoever or who on earth to express shock or surprise. We stress ever and earth:

• 9 Who in relative clauses

  We use who as a relative pronoun to introduce a relative clause about people:

• 10 Whom

  Whom is the object form of who. We use whom to refer to people in formal styles or in writing, when the person is the object of the verb. We don’t use it very often and we use it more commonly in writing than in speaking.