Who - whom

There is much confusion among some new writers about when to use who and when to use whom. This confusion is made worse by the fact that whom is becoming obsolete in normal spoken English, at least in the UK. In formal writing, especially in academic English, its use is still current, and often expected.

Both who and whom are forms of the relative pronoun 'who'.

• who is the form appropriate for the Subject of a clause (the subjective form).
• whom is the form appropriate for the Object of a clause, and the Complement of a preposition (the objective form).

Note that the objective form, whom, is like the objective form of the 3rd person singular pronoun 'he': him. If you are confused about when to use whom, try substituting 'he' or 'him'. If 'him' sounds more natural, use whom. If 'he' sounds more natural, use who.