WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.154 - [Voiceover] Hello grammarians. 00:00:01.154 --> 00:00:05.219 Welcome to one the thorniest fights in English usage today. 00:00:05.219 --> 00:00:06.844 The question of whether or not you should use 00:00:06.844 --> 00:00:10.761 who or whom in a sentence as a relative pronoun. 00:00:10.761 --> 00:00:14.431 So there's this basic idea that who is the subject form, 00:00:14.431 --> 00:00:16.590 and whom is the object form. 00:00:16.590 --> 00:00:18.182 Which means that if we're talking about 00:00:18.182 --> 00:00:21.862 someone who is the doer, then we say who. 00:00:21.862 --> 00:00:24.126 As in, the spy who loved me. 00:00:24.126 --> 00:00:26.986 As opposed to someone who is the doee, the object. 00:00:26.986 --> 00:00:29.579 As in, the spy whom I loved. 00:00:29.579 --> 00:00:32.098 You see, cause in this sentence, who is the subject. 00:00:32.098 --> 00:00:34.351 And in this sentence, I is the subject. 00:00:34.351 --> 00:00:35.837 Me is the object. 00:00:35.837 --> 00:00:37.137 And whom is the object. 00:00:37.137 --> 00:00:39.250 I loved whom? 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:41.038 In this sentence, I am doing the loving. 00:00:41.038 --> 00:00:45.042 In this sentence it is the spy who is doing the loving. 00:00:46.352 --> 00:00:48.703 That's the basic rule. 00:00:48.703 --> 00:00:51.043 But, this does not adequately reflect 00:00:51.043 --> 00:00:52.958 the way our culture actually uses 00:00:52.958 --> 00:00:56.383 and has used whom or who for some time. 00:00:56.383 --> 00:00:59.344 In many cases it has become permissible 00:00:59.344 --> 00:01:02.855 to use who as an object. 00:01:02.855 --> 00:01:04.858 Let me show you what I mean. 00:01:04.858 --> 00:01:05.950 So the thing to remember 00:01:05.950 --> 00:01:08.956 is that the basic rule is a one way street. 00:01:08.956 --> 00:01:11.035 Because the way language is changing, 00:01:11.035 --> 00:01:13.694 whom is on its way out. 00:01:13.694 --> 00:01:18.675 I imagine in another 50, 75 years we won't be using it all. 00:01:18.675 --> 00:01:19.812 Is that sad? 00:01:19.812 --> 00:01:21.252 Sure, a little bit. 00:01:21.252 --> 00:01:24.756 I mean I'm sad that nobody every uses the pronoun whoso. 00:01:24.756 --> 00:01:29.619 As in, whoso pulleth this sword from this stone, 00:01:29.619 --> 00:01:32.606 is rightwise born king of England. 00:01:32.606 --> 00:01:33.814 We don't use that anymore. 00:01:33.814 --> 00:01:35.509 It's old fashioned. 00:01:35.509 --> 00:01:37.784 Now we say, whoever. 00:01:37.784 --> 00:01:41.048 And that's ok. 00:01:41.048 --> 00:01:42.127 So we know that the basic rule 00:01:42.127 --> 00:01:44.147 is that you use who as a subject 00:01:44.147 --> 00:01:46.027 and whom as an object. 00:01:46.027 --> 00:01:49.406 Well you can also now use who as an object. 00:01:49.406 --> 00:01:53.313 The only thing you can't do is whom is not a subject. 00:01:56.443 --> 00:01:57.950 That's the thing you need to remember, 00:01:57.950 --> 00:02:00.552 is that whom's use is not expanding. 00:02:00.552 --> 00:02:01.852 It is contracting. 00:02:01.852 --> 00:02:04.824 Who is taking over some of whom's duties. 00:02:04.824 --> 00:02:08.470 So let's go back to that spy example. 00:02:08.470 --> 00:02:11.152 So here are the four possible options, right? 00:02:11.152 --> 00:02:13.010 The spy who loved me, 00:02:13.010 --> 00:02:14.831 the spy whom loved me, 00:02:14.831 --> 00:02:16.586 the spy who I loved, 00:02:16.586 --> 00:02:18.512 and the spy whom I loved. 00:02:18.512 --> 00:02:23.029 Now of these, only this one is incorrect. 00:02:23.029 --> 00:02:26.326 Because we're trying to use whom as a subject. 00:02:26.326 --> 00:02:28.230 But here, the spy who I loved, 00:02:28.230 --> 00:02:29.983 where who is being an object, 00:02:29.983 --> 00:02:33.885 by the informal rules of our grammar today, this is fine. 00:02:33.885 --> 00:02:36.786 Either of these is fine. 00:02:36.786 --> 00:02:40.710 The only one that's not fine is this guy right here. 00:02:40.710 --> 00:02:42.765 The spy whom loved me. 00:02:42.765 --> 00:02:45.831 Because this language change is going in one direction. 00:02:45.831 --> 00:02:50.324 And it's in the direction of whom being used less often. 00:02:50.324 --> 00:02:53.087 So whom never expands from its original position. 00:02:53.087 --> 00:02:54.932 Who does. 00:02:54.932 --> 00:02:57.232 So the next time you're puzzling over what to do 00:02:57.232 --> 00:03:00.249 in the event of the sentence who are you talking to, 00:03:00.249 --> 00:03:02.131 and whether or not this pronoun here 00:03:02.131 --> 00:03:05.184 should be who or whom, 00:03:05.184 --> 00:03:08.772 it's really an issue of tone rather than correctness. 00:03:08.772 --> 00:03:13.277 Because both possibilies are equally understandable. 00:03:13.277 --> 00:03:15.819 Yes, technically if you wanted to be very correct 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:20.637 you would say whom are you talking to, 00:03:20.637 --> 00:03:24.854 or you are talking to whom, 00:03:24.854 --> 00:03:27.231 because whom is the object of this preposition. 00:03:27.231 --> 00:03:30.747 It's to whom, and so therefore we would use the object form. 00:03:30.747 --> 00:03:34.248 But you find that when you separate it out in this question, 00:03:34.248 --> 00:03:36.673 when you put the to at the end, 00:03:36.673 --> 00:03:39.229 and the whom question particle at the beginning, 00:03:39.229 --> 00:03:41.191 this m just kind of falls away. 00:03:41.191 --> 00:03:43.628 Cause we're more likely to use whom 00:03:43.628 --> 00:03:47.008 when it's immediately preceded by a preposition. 00:03:47.008 --> 00:03:51.547 But otherwise, it's probably more likely gonna be who. 00:03:51.547 --> 00:03:54.032 Which is why it's not that big of a deal to say 00:03:54.032 --> 00:03:55.553 who are you talking to. 00:03:55.553 --> 00:03:56.865 It's not technically correct, 00:03:56.865 --> 00:04:00.510 but it's been used for so long that it's fine. 00:04:00.510 --> 00:04:02.309 You are talking to who 00:04:02.309 --> 00:04:06.292 is a little bit more formal of a construction, 00:04:06.292 --> 00:04:09.868 and therefore you would probably want to use whom. 00:04:09.868 --> 00:04:14.591 Saying you are talking to who is not as common. 00:04:14.591 --> 00:04:17.691 So in this wild swamp of rule breaking 00:04:17.691 --> 00:04:20.828 there is one hard grammar rule to pay attention to. 00:04:20.828 --> 00:04:24.693 And it's just never use whom as a subject. 00:04:24.693 --> 00:04:28.628 The role of whom in our constellation of pronouns 00:04:28.628 --> 00:04:31.149 is decreasing, not expanding. 00:04:31.149 --> 00:04:33.808 Who is taking over whom. 00:04:33.808 --> 00:04:35.572 And since who is the subject, 00:04:35.572 --> 00:04:38.172 whom is not moving into that space. 00:04:38.172 --> 00:04:40.066 Whom is the object pronoun, 00:04:40.066 --> 00:04:43.271 and you use it when you're feeling fancy. 00:04:43.271 --> 00:04:44.767 You can learn anything. 00:04:44.767 --> 00:04:45.817 David out.