Who vs whom vs whose
The short answer
Answer the question with he or him. If he fits, use who; if him fits, use whom. Whose marks possession, whose coat is this? In modern English whom survives mainly after a preposition; elsewhere who is normal and whom can sound stiff.
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At a glance
Who or Whom?
| Compare | WhoThe subject. Substitute he. | WhomThe object. Substitute him. |
|---|---|---|
| Grammatical role | Subject of the verb | Object of a verb or preposition |
| Substitution test | he / she / they fits | him / her / them fits |
| After a preposition | Only informally, who did you give it to? | Standard: to whom did you give it? |
| Register today | Neutral, works everywhere | Formal; often avoided |
| Possession | whose: for both | whose: for both |
| Confusable with | Not used | who’s = who is, never possessive |
How to choose
Ask these, in order
- 1
Can you answer with he?
Who.
Who called? He did.
He fits, so who.
- 2
Can you answer with him?
Whom, in formal writing. Who is acceptable in speech.
Whom did you invite? I invited him.
Him fits, so whom.
NBWho did you invite? is completely normal in conversation.
- 3
Is there a preposition immediately in front?
Whom. This is where it genuinely survives.
the colleague with whom I share an office
After with, whom is standard.
- 4
Does it show possession?
Whose, and it works for people and things alike.
the author whose books we read
Not who’s, which means who is.
Side by side
Each one, in full
Who and whom
The subject. Substitute he.
Who is the subject, who wrote this? who is coming? Whom is the object of a verb or preposition, whom did you see? to whom it may concern. The he-or-him substitution settles it in every case, including in relative clauses.
In a relative clause the test still works, but you have to look inside the clause: the man who called, he called, so who. The man whom I called: I called him, so whom.
Who is responsible for this?
He is, so who.
The candidate whom we interviewed withdrew.
We interviewed him, so whom.
The candidate who applied first got the job.
He applied, so who, despite the similar shape.
Whose, and where whom has gone
The object. Substitute him.
Whose marks possession and does not vary, whose turn is it? the company whose shares fell. It works for things as well as people, which surprises learners: the book whose cover is torn is perfectly correct, if slightly formal.
As for whom, modern English has largely retired it except after a preposition. Who did you speak to? is standard everywhere; to whom did you speak? is formal. What has not changed is that with whom, for whom and of whom keep whom, because who directly after a preposition is genuinely wrong.
Whose idea was this?
Possession.
a decision for whom nobody wanted to take responsibility
After a preposition.
Who are you going with?
Everyday English, preposition stranded at the end.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
Who’s book is this?
Whose book is this?
Who’s is the contraction of who is or who has, never a possessive. The apostrophe means a missing letter, not ownership, the same confusion as its and it’s.
Whom is calling?
Who is calling?
He is calling, so it is who. Using whom to sound careful is the commonest way to get it wrong, and it is more noticeable than simply using who everywhere.
with who I work
with whom I work
Who cannot follow a preposition directly. Either use whom, or move the preposition to the end, who I work with, which is what most speakers say.
To who should I address it?
To whom should I address it?
Who cannot follow a preposition directly. Either use whom, or move the preposition to the end, who should I address it to? That version is standard in speech and in most writing, and only the stiffest registers object to it.
Now use it
Relative clauses
who, which, that, whose, and when you can drop the pronoun. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Is whom dying out?
- In most positions, yes. It survives robustly after a preposition and in fixed phrases like to whom it may concern, and elsewhere it is a register choice rather than a correctness one. Using who where whom is strictly required will pass unremarked almost everywhere; using whom wrongly will not.
- Does whose really work for things?
- Yes, a house whose windows were broken is correct. Some writers avoid it because whose feels human, and reach for of which instead, which is usually clumsier. Whose is the better choice unless the sentence is unusually formal.
- How does this relate to which and that?
- Same family of relative pronouns, split by what they refer to, who and whom for people, which and that for things, whose for possession by either. The defining and non-defining comma rule applies to all of them identically.