To whom it may concern | Bangkok Post: learning

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Two pronouns that may cause confusion or raise questions on how and when to use each properly are "who" and "whom". To begin, it is important to recognise the difference between subjects and objects in order to know whether to use "who" or "whom". You use "who" when referring to the subject of a clause, and "whom" when referring to the object of a clause. Let's look at some examples that can help to provide additional clarification.

"Who" is a questioning pronoun, and it is used in place of the subject of a question. For example: "Who is going to the party?" "Who" is also used in statements in place of the subject of a clause. For example, "This is who warned me about the floods."

"Whom" is also a questioning pronoun, but it is used in place of the object of a question. For example, "With whom are you going to the party?" "Whom" is also used in statements in place of the object of a clause. For example, "This is whom I told you about."

Quick tip: When you're trying to decide whether to use "who" or "whom", ask yourself if the answer to the question would be "he" or "him". If you answer the question being asked with "him", then use "whom". (This is easy to remember because both "him" and "whom" end with the letter "m"). If you answer the question with "he", then use "who".

Let's try an example: "Who/Whom do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." "Him" is the grammatically correct response, so the word "whom" is the appropriate choice. Now, if you are trying to ask, "Who/whom asked Nok to the dance?", the answer would be, "He asked Nok to the dance." Since the answer is "he", you know you must use "who". Just remember, "him" equals "whom" and "he" equals "who".