To whom it may concern - Pesky pronouns: The understudies

Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

To whom it may concern
Pesky pronouns: The understudies

WHO VERSUS WHOM

At the risk of being redundant here, let’s go back to the acting analogy. Who and whoever play the role of subjects whenever they come on stage. Whom and whomever play the part of objects when they enter the theater. To solve most dilemmas, simplify, simplify, simplify. Identify the nearby verb, and then circle back to find the subject that goes with it. Strip down a sentence clause by clause.

The manager asked whoever had the correct phone number to call. (Whoever plays the role of subject to the verb had in the minor clause.)

You can make charitable contributions to whomever you wish. (Whomever plays the role of object of the preposition to.)

Granted, some sentences with whom sound stuffy, even though they’re correct: “To whom did you wish to speak?” (You did wish to speak to whom. Whom plays the role of object—the object of the preposition to.) Rewording the sentence to end with the preposition sounds a little less stuffy: “Whom did you want to speak to?” Or, you can reword the sentence altogether: “Who are you calling, please?” It’s incorrect, but far less stuffy for casual conversation.

As a side note, the use of the formal whom and whomever is fast disappearing from the language (probably because so few people use them correctly). That’s one way to tackle a grammar problem—live long enough for the correct usage to become archaic.

Memory tip

Substitute he (the subject word) and him (the object word) for who and whom and let your ear do the rest. If he sounds right, use who or whoever. If him sounds right, use whom or whomever.

Example: “Wilmo has notified the boss, (whom or who?) he likes, that the work is complete.” (Reword: Wilmo has notified the boss that the work is complete. He likes him/whom.) Correct: “Wilmo has notified the boss, whom he likes, that the work is complete.”

Example: “For (who or whom?) was this raise intended?” (Reword: This raise was intended for him/whom.) Correct: “For whom was this raise intended?”