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Who/Whom question

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by Stockmoose16 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:40 pm
In the following sentence, would you use "who" or "whom"?

Those (whom/who) like pizza should go to Italy.

I know they say you can usually determine who/whom by replacing the word in the sentence with he/him, but you can't do that here.

Someone please explain.
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by parallel_chase » Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:32 pm
Here you can use they/them to check the answer. Answer should be "who"
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by bourne159 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:39 pm
Who or whom are used to refer to people.
The only difference between the two is whether the pronoun is referring to the subject or the object.

In this case 'Those' is the subject of the sentence.
You should use who.

I went to eat pizza with an Italian friend whom I know from childhood.
(Subject is 'I' The friend is the object)
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by Stockmoose16 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:23 pm
parallel_chase wrote:Here you can use they/them to check the answer. Answer should be "who"
They who like pizza should go to Italy

Them who like pizza should go to Italy

Neither sentence makes sense. So how do you know whether to use who or whom?
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by parallel_chase » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:29 pm
Stockmoose16 wrote:
parallel_chase wrote:Here you can use they/them to check the answer. Answer should be "who"
They who like pizza should go to Italy

Them who like pizza should go to Italy

Neither sentence makes sense. So how do you know whether to use who or whom?
They should go to ITALY
Them should go to ITALY

They like PIZZA
Them like pizza

Now tell me which of the two are correct.
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by Stockmoose16 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:35 pm
bourne159 wrote:Who or whom are used to refer to people.
The only difference between the two is whether the pronoun is referring to the subject or the object.

In this case 'Those' is the subject of the sentence.
You should use who.

I went to eat pizza with an Italian friend whom I know from childhood.
(Subject is 'I' The friend is the object)
If you use 'who' to refer to the subject and whom to refer to an object, then why is the following sentence correct:

In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

...Isn't the subject here Lizzie Borden? Which means it should be WHO? The OA says this version is correct.
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by Stockmoose16 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:37 pm
parallel_chase wrote:
Stockmoose16 wrote:
parallel_chase wrote:Here you can use they/them to check the answer. Answer should be "who"
They who like pizza should go to Italy

Them who like pizza should go to Italy

Neither sentence makes sense. So how do you know whether to use who or whom?
They should go to ITALY
Them should go to ITALY

They like PIZZA
Them like pizza

But you cut out part of the sentence. The original was "Those who/whom like pizza should go to Italy." You shortened it to "They like pizza"... that's a different sentence.

Now tell me which of the two are correct.
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by Ian Stewart » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:44 pm
Stockmoose16 wrote: In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

...Isn't the subject here Lizzie Borden? Which means it should be WHO? The OA says this version is correct.
'A jury' is the subject of the above sentence; the jury is doing the acquitting, and doing the regarding. Lizzie Borden is the object, and 'whom' is correct.
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by parallel_chase » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:51 pm
I thought you knew the trick of using he/him. Anyways.

These are couple of sentences which will help you to identify the who/whom in a sec.

Him refers to whom, he refers to who

Whom am I speaking with?
I am speaking with him---correct, I am speaking with he--incorrect.

He is a man whom I met at Tim's party?
I met him at the party----correct, I met he at the party---incorrect.

It is he who is speaking on the phone.
He is speaking on the phone---correct, Him is speaking on the phone--incorrect.


Similarly you can use They and Them.
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by bourne159 » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:55 pm
As Ian indicated above Jury is the subject (who is acquitting?)
Lizzie Borden is the object. Hence using whom is right.

To figure out the subject (Ask who or what is performing the action(verb))
The object is the one who receives the action.
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by mksreeram » Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:15 pm
Stockmoose16 wrote:
bourne159 wrote:Who or whom are used to refer to people.
The only difference between the two is whether the pronoun is referring to the subject or the object.

In this case 'Those' is the subject of the sentence.
You should use who.

I went to eat pizza with an Italian friend whom I know from childhood.
(Subject is 'I' The friend is the object)
If you use 'who' to refer to the subject and whom to refer to an object, then why is the following sentence correct:

In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

...Isn't the subject here Lizzie Borden? Which means it should be WHO? The OA says this version is correct.
In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

Where is this sentence from?

I am not sure why they is used. I feel "a jury" is singlar and they is wrong.

let me know if my understanding is wrong.
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by confuse mind » Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:11 pm
mksreeram wrote:
Stockmoose16 wrote:
bourne159 wrote:Who or whom are used to refer to people.
The only difference between the two is whether the pronoun is referring to the subject or the object.

In this case 'Those' is the subject of the sentence.
You should use who.

I went to eat pizza with an Italian friend whom I know from childhood.
(Subject is 'I' The friend is the object)
If you use 'who' to refer to the subject and whom to refer to an object, then why is the following sentence correct:

In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

...Isn't the subject here Lizzie Borden? Which means it should be WHO? The OA says this version is correct.
In one of the most famous parricide trials in history, a jury acquitted Lizzie Borden, whom they regarded to be an abused victim driven beyond human endurance

Where is this sentence from?

I am not sure why they is used. I feel "a jury" is singlar and they is wrong.

let me know if my understanding is wrong.

a jury is for the collective action and thus jury is singular in this usage
the belief about Lizzie Borden is per member of the jury and jury is plural in this usage
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