Who and whom (and a review of I and me)
May. 13th, 2004 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Review: When talking about somebody else and yourself, say the sentence without the somebody else first. So it's etcetera and I did something but they went away without soandso and me. Because I did something and they went away without me. It's amazing how convoluted one can make a simple sentence, isn't it?
Anyway, now that's over with, on to who and whom.
Some people never say whom. That's not quite right, and it's irritating to those of us who do, but at least it's acceptable. Other people say whom, but they put it in the wrong place. They shall burn for this. Just like with I and me, there's a handy way to remember who and whom.
If it's a question:
Answer the question using I or me. Or he or him. Or they or them. Or... no, wait, that's all of them. I, he, they, me, him, them.
Who went to the store? I went to the store.
To whom am I speaking? You are speaking to me.
Who's the fairest of them all? He's the fairest of them all.
With whom does Snow White dwell? Snow White lives with them.
See the ms? They go together.
If it's not a question:
Pretend it is.
No, seriously. Just break off the part of the sentence with the who/whom and answer it. Um. That makes sense. Really.
*sighs* I'm hopeless today.
Anyway, now that's over with, on to who and whom.
Some people never say whom. That's not quite right, and it's irritating to those of us who do, but at least it's acceptable. Other people say whom, but they put it in the wrong place. They shall burn for this. Just like with I and me, there's a handy way to remember who and whom.
If it's a question:
Answer the question using I or me. Or he or him. Or they or them. Or... no, wait, that's all of them. I, he, they, me, him, them.
Who went to the store? I went to the store.
To whom am I speaking? You are speaking to me.
Who's the fairest of them all? He's the fairest of them all.
With whom does Snow White dwell? Snow White lives with them.
See the ms? They go together.
If it's not a question:
Pretend it is.
No, seriously. Just break off the part of the sentence with the who/whom and answer it. Um. That makes sense. Really.
*sighs* I'm hopeless today.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 03:20 pm (UTC)Basically, the subject of a sentence is the noun we're talking about, the one doing the verb (unless it's a passive verb...). The normal English word order is SVO, subject, object, verb. So in a sentence like "I went to the store", I is the subject and store is the object.
The personal pronouns distinguish between the subject and the object like this:
Subject:
I
Thou (not often used, but let's pretend)
He/she/it
We
You
They
Object:
Me
Thee
Him/her/it
Us
You
Them