who and whom they are pronouns of similar spellings, but of very different usage. As a relative pronoun, the meaning of who é what.
Examples:
- He is the man who saved the kid. (He is the man who saved the child.)
- She is the teacher that gave him an A. (She is the teacher who gave him an A.)
IMPORTANT: who also plays the role of interrogative pronoun and in this case, its meaning is who. Check out the sentence below.
Example:
Who let the dogs out? (Who let the dogs out?)
The meaning of the relative pronoun whom Can be what, who, to whom, which, which, which, which, depending on the phrase. Check below some sentences with whom.
Examples:
- He is the man whom the reporter interviewed. (He is the man the reporter interviewed.)
- To whom should I call? (Who should I call?)
- She is the girl to whom he gave flowers. (She is the girl he gave flowers to.)
- He is the director with whom I had a meeting. (He is the director I had a meeting with.)
- They are the neighbors with whom I spoke. (They are the neighbors I spoke to.)
IMPORTANT: whom also plays the role of interrogative pronoun and in this case, its meaning is who. Check out the sentence below.
Example:
Who is this book about? (Who is this book about?)
when to use who and whom
we use who and whom when we want to specify who performed a certain action or who suffered a certain action, respectively.
who is used to specify who does something.
In turn, whom is used to specify who suffers a certain action exercised by another person.
See the sentences below.
Examples:
- Who spoke to Bob? (Who spoke to Bob?)
- To whom did Bob speak? (Who did Bob talk to?)
Note that in sentence A, the intent of the question is to find out who performed the action of talking to Bob.
Whenever we want to know who performed a certain action, we use the pronoun who.
In sentence B, the intention of the question is to know who Bob talked to, that is, who “suffered the action” of receiving a communication from Bob.
When we want to know who suffered a certain action taken by another person, we use the pronoun whom.
Difference between who and whom
The difference between who and whom is related to the function that each pronoun plays in a sentence:
- who – subject function
- Whom – object function
Note in the sentences below that who is used whenever we want to know who performed a certain action. the pronoun whom, is used when specifying who was the target of an action taken by another person.
Examples:
- Who is ringing the bell? (Who is ringing the bell?)
- This is the student whom I told you about. (This is the student I told you about.)
- She is the girl with whom I will share an apartment. (This is the girl I'm going to share an apartment with.)
- He is the boy who wants to visit the museum. (He is the boy who wants to visit the museum.)
Tip
Immediately after a preposition, the only one of the two pronouns that can be used is whom.
Example:
She is the girl with whom I was studying. (She is the girl I was studying with).
Video
Watch the video below with a summary of the use of who and whom.
See too:
- English personal pronouns
- subject pronouns
- object pronouns
- demonstrative pronouns
- This, that, these and those
- reflexive pronouns
- indefinite pronouns
- Relative pronouns
- When to use in, on and even
- I'm away
- Question words
- question tags
Exercises
Do the exercises below to test your knowledge of the use of pronouns whom and who.
1. (UFSCar – SP) Go and find the driver ________ arrived here yesterday.
a) what
b) who
c) whose
d) whom
e) he
Correct alternative: b) who
2. (CARLOS CHAGAS – SP) My sister, _____ lives in Italy, _________ Italian fluently.
a) what – speaks
b) who – speak
c) which – speak
d) who – speaks
e) that – speak
Correct alternative: d) who – speaks
3. (UFP) "He is the salesman _______ sold me the photograph."
a) which
b) whom
c) who
d) whose
e) what
Correct alternative: c) who
4. (UFCe) "The old man ______ was in the shop, and _____ you talked about him is not a thief."
a) who/who
b) who/whom
c) which/whom
d) that/which
Correct alternative: b) who/whom
5. (CESGRANRIO) In 'The poor neighbor who had his bedroom downstairs.', the word "WHO" could be correctly replaced by:
a) whose
b) which
c) what
d) that
Correct alternative: d) that
