An Ultra Pro Guide to Who Vs Whom - No More Confusion

Short Answer: The pronouns "who" and "whom" in "who vs whom" are used as either interrogative or relative pronouns. The main difference between who and whom is that Who is used as both a subject or an object of a verb or a preposition in a sentence, whereas whom is used only as an object of a verb or a preposition in a sentence. 

The best trick to remember whether to use who or whom is this: use who if you can replace it with subject pronouns such as he or she, use whom if you can replace it with object pronouns such as him or her on the condition of the sentence being still correct.

Continue to read to know more about who vs whom usage difference, uses, rules, examples, exercises with clear explanation in plain English. 

This article covers:

Who vs Whom

Who vs Whom Examples in Sentences

Who and Whom 

When to Use Who and Whom

Difference between Who and Whom

Who and Whom Rule

Who vs Whom Trick

Who vs Whom Exercises

FAQs - Who vs Whom

Who Vs Whom - A Detailed Note

Both who and whom are used as both interrogative pronouns and relative pronouns. As interrogative pronouns, both who and whom are used to introduce questions asking for information about people, while as relative pronouns, they're used to introduce relative clauses that give us more information about people. 

The below-given are the uses of who and whom with example sentences. Go through each of them and learn each and every usage. 

1. Who and Whom as Interrogative Pronouns

Who and whom are used as question words to ask information-based questions about people in direct and indirect questions. We use who as both a subject or an object of a verb or as an object of a preposition in a sentence, whereas we use whom only as an object of a verb or preposition in a sentence. Note that whom is the object form of who. 

So, the following ways are the possible ways in which who is used: 

a. Who as Interrogative Pronoun as Subject of Verb in Direct Question

• Who will do it for me?
• Who can help me out with getting rid of this problem?
• Who will inform the teacher of this incident?

b. Who as Interrogative Pronoun as Object of Verb in Direct Question

• Who are you going to call?
• Who did you tell about it?
• Who will you tell about this incident?

c. Who as Interrogative Pronoun as Object of a preposition in Direct Question

• Who are you talking about?
• Who do you practice speaking English with?
• Who did the teacher talk to?

d. Who as Subject of  Verb in Indirect Question 

• Can you tell me who did it?
• Don't you really remember who was with him that day?
• Does she certainly remember who helped me?

e. Who as Object of Verb in Indirect Question 

• Tell me who you invited to the function.
• Can you please tell me who you trust?
• Can you disclose who she is going to marry?

f. Who as Object of a Preposition in Indirect Question

• Can you please tell me who I should go to?
• I'll not tell you who I talked to yesterday.
• I don't know who she was speaking with. 

g. Whom as Object of Verb in Direct Question 

• Whom will you invite to your birthday party?
• Whom will you marry?
• Whom did you tell?

h. Whom as Object of Preposition in Direct Question 

• To whom are you talking?
• Whom will you get married with?
• For whom will you vote?

i. Whom as Object of Verb in Indirect Question 

• Can you tell me whom I invited to my birthday party?
• She'll not disclose whom she will marry.
• Can you recall whom your brother phoned?

j. Whom as Object of Preposition in Indirect Question

• I don't want to ask for whom you will vote.
• Does John know with whom his brother was speaking?
• Can you tell me whom he was talking about? 

2. Who Vs Whom as Relative Pronouns 

Both who and whom are also used to introduce relative clauses (relative clauses are the adjective clauses which modify a noun or a noun phrase and give us more information about people or things.).

Who as a relative pronoun is used as a subject of a verb or an object of a verb or a preposition, whereas whom as a relative pronoun is used only as an object of a verb or a preposition. 

So, basically, the following are the situations in which we can use who and whom as relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses. 

1. Who as Relative Pronoun 

As a relative pronoun, who is used to give us more information about people. We use who in three ways: as a subject, an object of a verb and object of a preposition in relative clauses. The relative clauses are underlined in the following examples.

a. Who as Subject of a Verb in Relative Clauses 

• The boy who came yesterday is my friend.
• The professor who is teaching you all is my father.
• My daughter, who is 14, has topped the class. 

b. Who as Object of a Verb in Relative Clauses 

• The girl who John married is his classmate.
• The man who you sent is my uncle.
• The boy who you invited to the party is my cousin.

c. Who as Object of a Preposition in Relative Clauses 

• The woman who you were speaking with is my aunty.
• The boy who he named John was found on a coastal area.
• The scientist who everyone was talking about is Newton.

2. Whom as Relative Pronoun 

The relative pronoun whom is used only as an object of a verb or a preposition in relative clauses. Here are few examples by using whom. 

a. Whom as Object of a Verb in Relative Clauses 

• The child whom we call Newton became a scientist.
• The person whom we invited to the function is our chief guest.
• The student whom the teacher appointed as the class representative is my close friend.

b. Whom as Object of a Preposition in Relative Clauses 

• The woman whom we were talking about is John's aunty.
• The person to whom we sent the letter is missing.
• The man to whom I talked yesterday is John's uncle.

Also read: What is Object of a Preposition?

Who vs Whom - The Must-know Differences 

Who and whom are used as interrogative pronouns to ask questions about people and as relative pronouns to give us more information about them. There're noteworthy differences between who and whom which must be clear to all learners of English in order not to get confused when using them.  

You're now going to explore the differences in who vs whom usage. The main differences between who and whom are as follows:

 

1. Who is used as both subject and object, whereas whom is used only as object.

a. Who as Subject and Object

• Who did it? (who as subject)
• Who did you phone? (who as object of a verb)
• Who are you going to talk to? (who as object of a preposition)

b. Whom as Object 

• Whom did you invite? (whom as object of a verb)
• Whom are you talking about? (whom as object of a preposition)

2. Who as an object is informal, whereas whom as an object is formal. 

• Who did you send the letter to? (informal)
• Whom did you send the letter to? (formal)
• To whom did you send the letter? (Extremely formal)

More Examples of Who vs Whom in Sentences

a. Who is coming?

b. Whom did you phone?

c. Who do you know?

d. The boy who came yesterday is my friend.

e. The woman whom you talked to is my aunty.

f. Who are you talking to?

g. Who did you send the letter to?

h. The man whom she married is my brother.

i. Who is your father?

j. Who came first?

Who and Whom Rules

Rule 1: Use who as a subject of a verb in a sentence in a direct question. 

Examples: 

• Who has done this all?
• Who will accompany me?

Rule 2: Use who as an object of a verb or preposition in a direct question.

Examples:

• Who did you meet yesterday?
• Who are you talking about?

Rule 3: Use whom as an object of a verb or  preposition in a direct question.

• Whom do you love?
• To whom are you sending this letter?

Rule 4: Use who as a subject pronoun in a relative clause.

• The boy who came here yesterday is my friend.

Rule 5: Use who as an object pronoun of a verb or preposition in a relative clause.

• The man who she married is my elder brother.
• The woman who you're talking about is my aunty.

Rule 6: Use whom as an object of a verb or a preposition in a relative clause.

• The boy whom you love is my brother.
• The person to whom you sent the letter is my father.

Who vs Whom Trick

The frequently given trick to help you know whether to use who or whom is this: use who if you can replace it with the personal subject pronouns such as he or she; use whom if you can replace it with the personal object pronouns such as him or her, while making sure that the sentence remains grammatically correct. 

For examples:

1. Who is coming?
2. Whom did you meet?
3. The boy who came yesterday is my friend.
4. The man whom she married is my brother.

In example 1, we can replace who with he or she and say "he or she is coming"; therefore, we'll use who here in this type of sentences. 

In example 2, we can replace whom with him or her and say "meet him or her"; therefore, we'll use whom here in this type of sentences.

In example 3, we can replace who with he or she and say ".....he or she came yesterday......"; therefore, we shall use who in this type of sentences.

In example 4, we can replace whom with him or her and say "......she married him......"; therefore, we'll use whom in this type of sentences.

Who vs Whom Exercises

Question Set 1: Use the interrogative pronouns appropriately in the following sentences.

a. ............is your brother? (whom/who)

b. To.......did you send the letter? (whom/who)

c. ...........is organizing this event? (whom/who)

d. ...........is this? (whom/who)

e. ............is your friend? (whom/who)

Question Set 2: Use the relative pronouns appropriately in the following sentences.

a. The boy........came yesterday is my friend. (whom/who)

b. The girl to........you sent the letter is my sister. (whom/who)

c. Is this the boy with.......you spoke? (whom/who)

d. The man to..........she is married is my uncle. (whom/who)

e. This is the person about.......I was talking. (whom/who)

FAQs - Who vs Whom

Who vs whom meaning

Both who and whom are used as interrogative and relative pronouns which introduce questions or relative clauses about people. 

Who vs whom Merriam-Webster

According to Merriam-Webster, who is a subject pronoun and whom is an object pronoun. In case if a preposition is used, whom is preferred. 

Who in a sentence

1. Who is this man?

2. Who are you?

3. Who are you looking for?

4. Who will you invite?

5. Who will come?

6. I don't know who has done it.

7. The boy who came is my friend.

Whom in a sentence 

1. Whom did you phone?

2. Whom do you trust?

3. To whom are you talking?

4. To whom have you sent the letter?

5. Can you tell me for whom you will vote?

6. The man to whom she is married is my uncle.

7. Can you inform me of whom she invited?

How do you use who or whom?

We use who as both subject of a verb and object of a verb or a preposition in a sentence, while we use whom as object of a verb or a preposition. 

Who and whom are examples of what?

Who and whom are examples of interrogative and relative pronouns. Both of them are used to either ask questions about people or give us more information about them.

Who or whom am I speaking to?

Yes, both "who and whom am I speaking to?" are grammatically correct. You can say "who am I speaking to?", "whom am I speaking to?" and "to whom am I speaking?". All of them are correct. 

Is who or whom singular?

The pronouns who and whom are dependent on their antecedents for being singular and plural; that is, if the antecedents are singular, the pronouns will be singular, and if the antecedents are plural, the pronouns will be plural.

Who I love or whom I love?

Both "who I love" and "whom I love" are fine. However, "who I love" is informal, whereas "whom I love" is formal. 

Who should I ask or whom?

Both "who should I ask?" and "whom should I ask?" are correct. However, "who should I ask?" is informal, whereas "whom should I ask?" is formal. 

Who vs whom to contact?

Both "who to contact?" and "whom to contact?" are correct, because we can use who as both subject and object, but the preferred choice is "whom to contact?".

What is an example by using whom?

1. Whom did you invite?

2. Whom will you phone?

3. Whom are you talking about?

4. To whom are you sending the letter?

5. Whom are you referring to?

Whom vs who examples

1. Who are you?

2. Who is this boy?

3. Whom are you going to phone?

4. Whom did you invite?

5. To whom are you talking?

When do you use who and whom?

Use who as a subject of a verb in a sentence, and use whom as an object of a verb or a preposition in a sentence as in "who is coming?" and "whom did you invite?".

How to tell the difference between who and whom?

You can tell the difference between who and whom this way: who is a subject pronoun, whereas whom is an object pronoun. As an object, whom is used in formal situations, whereas who as an object is used in informal situations.