Correct usage of the who/whom pronouns presents difficulties for many writers. The following guidelines and examples may help you determine which one to use.

• If a pronoun (he, she, it, they) could serve as the subject of the who/whom clause, use who or whoever.

  John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in November of 1963, was the youngest president elected in the United States.

  In the example sentence, who is part of a clause that modifies the subject of the sentence, JFK. If who were replaced with he or JFK, the clause would make sense and reinforce the idea that who not only refers to the subject of the sentence but could also replace it.

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• When a pronoun functions as the object of a clause, use whom or whomever.

  John F. Kennedy, whom people respected for his political savvy, was assassinated in November of 1963.

  In this example sentence, the whom clause modifies the subject of the sentence. It differs from the first example, however, in that whom functions as the object of the clause in which it exists. People is the subject in the clause, while whom (referring to JFK) is the object the verb respected refers to.

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• When a preposition (in, of, on, without, at, from) precedes the pronoun, use whom or whomever.

  The anonymous donor, of whom we speak, graciously gave ten million dollars to the flood-relief fund.

  In this example, whom functions as the object of the preposition instead of as the object of a clause.

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  © 1997, 2000 The Write Place

  The print version of this page was created for St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN; it was revised by Jill Cadwell. Donella Westphal coded it for the web. It may be copied for educational purposes only. If you copy this document, please include our copyright notice and the names of the writers; if you revise it, please add your name(s) to the list of writers.

  Last update: 18 August 2000

  URL: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/whowhom.html

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