who or whom

[Kiprida]

To whom it may concern

Dear Sir/Madam,

At school I learned the question word "whom". For example: Whom do you love? But during last years I do not meet this question word in books or in tests. They simply use 'who"!!! Eg: Who did you meet on your way to school? (not whom)

What do you advise? Does this base on British or American English??

Thanks in advance,

Phoebe Kiprida
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incomplete....

[Skrej]

Hello, Kiprida,

Yes, the correct form is "Whom do you love', because 'who' is a subject pronoun, 'whom' is the object pronoun.

I'm not surprised that you've found real-life examples that are counter to your textbook, though. In practice, 'whom' seems to be falling out of usage, and people just use 'who', although this isn't correct.

This really has nothing to do with British or American English, as the rules are the same in terms of 'who/whom'.

So yes, George Thorogood got it wrong, grammatically. I guess "Whom do you love" didn't work musically....



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Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
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[Nanucbe]

"who and whom" have always created problems even to native speakers. You should read P.G. Wodehouse novels to enjoy this. Presently whom has gone out of use and who is used both in subject and object places. So the expression :"Who do you love" is correct. It is very much acceptable grammatical UK English. But I am yet to come across a use of who in such an expression like "To whomsoever it may concern." Just to avoid using "whomsoever" I think you got that "To who it may concern." best of luck, nanucbe