Who vs. Whom

I teach graduate students how to write, which means I have a lot of nervous writers. Writers who feel like because they're now in grad school, they'd better up the ante on their vocabulary and also finally figure out when to use whom.

In fact, the number one question I get in grammar classes is: "when do you use who and when do you use whom?"

I happen to believe whom is outdated and doubt my grandchildren will be faced with a choice between who and whom. Because of this, the first thing I advise is that, when in doubt, avoid the m and stick with who. I still kind of raise my nose to people who misuse whom, though, so the second thing I advise is following the m:

Him, them, whom
He, they, who

That is, if you can replace whom with him or them, then you've used it correctly. Here's how to test:

Correct: To whom it may concern.
Ask yourself: who did it concern? It concerned he? Nope. It concerned him. So you followed the m from him to whom and know that you used whom correctly.

Incorrect: I don't know whom was invited!
Ask yourself: whom was invited? Him was invited? Nope. He was invited. No m to follow so you know that whom should be who: I don't know who was invited.

Now that you know which wins when in the battle between who and whom, look forward to the next grammar post, which is on a more pressing battle involving who: who versus that.

Until next time.