Rules to using who and whom

[Jerik]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #100 "Interrogative pronouns", question 3

......... likes to play pinball at the arcade?

(a) Who
(b) Whom
(c) What
(d) Which

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #100 "Interrogative pronouns", answer 3

Who likes to play pinball at the arcade?

Correct answer: (a) Who

Your answer was: correct
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Would you please explain rules to using who and whom

Jerik

[Alan]

Hi,

I've written some material on who/whom/which/that for the site. You could look in esl lessons and in the index you'll find the headings:


Relative Pronoun

Relative Pronoun (2)

Relative Pronoun (3)

I hope you find this useful.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Cool Expressions

[outofbreath]

Loved that story about the different relatives and the crazy Aunt Enid!

My take on who vs whom:

Who is used much more and generally stands much better alone while whom is used more in conjuction with words such as "to", "from", etc.

You would say: "To whom did you speak?" not "To who did you speak?".

Who is a more definitive than whom in my mind.

Hope that helps a little and is not completely wrong.

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi together!

Regarding the theme Who vs Whom i took a look into my Grammar book ( Cornelsen English Grammar ). The most important difference is described with when to use them. You may say:

"Who do you speak to?" ( generally English )
"To whom do you speak?" ( formal English)

Another difference is the position of the Preposition. Is this helpful?

greetings

Michael