The Differences Between Who VS Whom and How to Use It

When you want to state a certain subject, you may need replacement words that won’t make your sentence sound repetitive, for example, who, whom, who’s, and whose. There’s a lot of confusion between who VS whom. In this article, we will try to explain the differences between who and whom!

The confusion between the pronouns who and whom is a common mistake. When we are speaking, people rarely use who because it seems awkward. Also, this formal tendency often shifts to writing. 

However, because academic writing is usually more formal than daily conversation, learning to use who VS whom correctly is very important. 

Does who and whom have the same meaning? Yup! Who and whom actually have the same meaning? But, despite their meaning, we can’t use these two words in the same context when we are writing or talking. 

So, here are the explanations that will help you to understand more about who and whom!

Who

First of all, you need to understand the function of who itself. You can use who as a word and an acronym. But, for our case here, we will discuss how to use who as a word.

You need to understand the most important rule when using the word who is its function; therefore, who has a function as a subject. You can use who when your words are performing the actions. 

For example:

1. Jean is a painter who enjoys using watercolor
2. Michele is a girl who loves to read
3. Nana is a hero who uses boomerang

Who in Interrogative Sentence

Meanwhile, when you want to use who to begin a question (interrogative sentence), the answer will include subject pronouns, such as her, him, or them. For this case, you can begin your interrogative sentence with who or whoever.

For example:

1. Who is that in front of the cafe? Oh, he is just a postman!
2. Who is Tom Felton? He is an actor

Who in Introducing a Dependent Clause

Now, you know how to use who depending on its context and in an interrogative sentence. Next, we will move on to how you can use who to introduce a dependent clause.

You can use who within the clause alone, not the whole sentence if you find the pronoun is the subject.

For example:

I fell in love with the man who lives next door.

In the clause who lives next door the pronoun who has the function of the subject. Therefore, we can easily say that he lives next door.

Those are some information about how to use who when you are speaking or writing in English. Now, we will move on to how to use whom. Be ready, it might be confusing for you if you are a beginner at learning English!

Whom

So, first of all, how do you use whom?

You can use whom when this word receives the action. For example:

1. Nay wrote a letter to a pen pal whom she had never met.
2. Sunny talks for hours with her friend, whom she always adores.

This rule can be very confusing in two cases, which are hard for a beginner in English, first, when you want to start a question, and second when you want to introduce a dependent clause.  

Whom in Interrogative Sentence

For the first one, if you want to use whom to begin an interrogative sentence, then ensure the answer will consist of an objective pronoun, which are her, him, and them. Thus, you can use whom or whomever.

For example:

Whom did she ask? She asks them.

Whom in Introducing A Dependant Clause

We can move on to the second term as you understand how to use whom in an interrogative sentence. It is how to use this word when introducing a dependent clause. If you found the pronoun is an object, then it is proper for you to use whom. 

For example:

Many people love the new class leader whom we have elected.

Now, you already understand the difference between who vs whom. To learn more about the usage of these two similar words, you can visit the Fun English Course. Thus, you can enhance your skills in understanding the grammar and vocabulary in English!