Who Versus Whom

Who versus whom is a tricky one. It really is. I don’t think many people actually use these two words correctly anymore, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be overlooked. There will be plenty of times as you’re writing that you need to use these words correctly, so let’s go over what the difference is and how to use them properly. If you don’t want the explanation, skip to the bottom for a quick and easy trick!

Who

“Who” is the subject of the sentence. If you are asking “who” did something or “who” did a certain action, that is correct.

Who put the apple on the teacher’s desk?
Who was late to class today?
Who wrote that on the board?
Mr Jones is the one who will take the class today.

Whom

This is the object of the sentence. If the action is being done to the “whom”, then you are using this word properly. “Whom” is the one everyone gets confused with, so here are a few examples to show you how to use it.

Whom did you share your lunch with?
Whom did she throw the ball to?
Whom did you sit next to in English yesterday?
Mr Jones is a teacher whom I have already met in Chemistry classes.

As always, practice is the best thing to help you. Write out sentences that use the words or find some online quizzes to test your ability. If the explanation above isn’t quite making sense or you’re looking for the quick and easy way to know the difference, here’s a tip: if you can replace the word (who or whom) with “he”, it’s “who”, and if you can replace it with “him”, it’s “whom”. If there’s something else you’d like some explanations about, leave a comment!