Who v. Whom Video Lecture | Learn and Master: Business Writing - Communication

in this segment we're going to talk
about the correct way to use who and
whom the basic explanation is that we
use who when the pronoun is functioning
is the subject of a clause and we use
home when the pronoun is functioning as
the object of a clause let me give you a
couple of sentences
okay so I have two sentences up here and
we're going to figure out if we use who
or whom and remember that I mentioned
the first thing that we want to identify
is is the pronoun functioning as the
subject or the object of the position
now something that helps a little bit in
in determining if the pronoun is in the
subject or the object position is to
actually replace the word the indefinite
article with with a pronoun so we're
gonna do this he or him replacement that
will simply help our ear be able to hear
better if we're in the subjective case
or the objective case so in our first
sentence blank is coming to the meeting
is it who is coming to the meeting or
whom is coming to meeting this one's
pretty easy let's put in here him he is
coming to the meeting or him is coming
to the meeting well our ear can very
clearly hear that because we've got this
is coming to the meeting with our verb
we need to have our pronoun be in the
subjective case in other words who is
coming to the meeting next sentence to
who should we deliver the book or to
whom should we deliver the book now when
I have a to who or to whom question
here's how I analyze and reframe the
questions so that I can hear what case
I'm dealing with I simply answer the
question so if I'm sink to who or whom
should we deliver the book I answer the
question
so I say we should deliver the book too
and then I can easily put in my pronoun
test to him
we of course wouldn't say - he because
in fact if we put in that pronoun test
this word is actually the object of this
preposition - it's the object of this
preposition - so I know that this
sentence that requires that indefinite
pronoun I'm going to put in to whom
should we deliver the book again to test
that I've restructured to answer the
question and then try to replace it with
that personal pronoun here him so let's
now look at another Verster form of
whomever of whom and who okay now we're
gonna change our basic pronoun format to
whoever or whomever and sometimes it
seems to get a little bit trickier but
really it's not and here's the trick
here's what you need to do to test out
if I use whomever in my sentence or I
use whoever in my sentence where
previously we tested out he or him in
this case we're when we when we're
talking about testing out for whoever or
whomever we want to use what I call the
hee hoo test ok hee hoo we're gonna test
out our sentence using the hee hoo or
the hin test just specifically when
we're analyzing whoever and whomever let
me give you a couple of examples
you
you
okay so first of all we've got our
question which I have appropriately used
the objective case of home to whom will
you give the report and an answer
you see potentially these two sentences
let's figure out if we should use the
subjective case of whoever or the
objective case of whomever I will give
the report to whomever or whoever well
let's do our he who test and him I will
give the report to he who or I will give
the report to him so the ear can clearly
hear that it would be I would give the
report to him so in other words I am in
the this is an object I'm in the
objective case and I'm going to use the
word to whomever okay now let's go to
the next sentence that's very similar
but we've made an important change I
will give the report to whomever needs
it or whoever needs it well
here's the trick when you see words that
come after the spot where we're
analyzing if we should use a who or a
home or a whoever or a whomever let me
repeat this when you see words that come
after that spot
we're in using one of those pronouns I
need to test and see if in fact that
pronoun is functioning as the subject of
an embedded clause now in most cases if
I do this he who test it's going to take
care of giving me the answer to that
question so I will give the report to
him needs it or I will give the report
to he who needs it he who clearly helps
my ear hear that this is this word is
actually in the subject position now you
might be going subject object how can
this be the subject it's still coming
after the two here's the answer over
here one word coming after the two
functioning as this one word is
functioning as the object of that
preposition in this sentence however
this entire embedded clause this is
still functioning as the object of this
preposition
but it's this entire embedded clause and
the difference is that the word right
here is functioning as the subject of
this embedded clause so it's functioning
of the subject of this I'm gonna make it
dotted because it's secondary of this
verb so in fact I here need to use
whoever so where is in this sentence I
would say I will give the report to
whomever period in my second sentence
because the word is in the subject
position of the sentence within this
entire objective clause I'm going to say
I will give the report to whoever needs
it suddenly I hope I demystified how to
use whoever and whomever my goal is to
make it boring you make it boring and
you demystify it by simply recognizing
that I have to test out if words come
after it I'm gonna test out to see if
it's functioning as the subject of an
embedded clause