英语语法：110 Who Versus Whom--Advanced

Grammar Girl here.

It was almost exactly a year ago when I did the first show about who versus¹ whom. In that show I only covered the simple cases, and lately I've been getting questions that made me think I should delve² deeper into the topic. So today's topic is who versus whom--advanced.

Here's an example of the kind of questions that are coming in. Derrick from Oakland, CA, recently read a story in the Wall Street Journal about restaurants that offer tasting menus that pair wine with food, and he came across this sentence about the sommelier:

We never did meet his teammate ... who[m] he said works the room in his absence.

Derrick thought the whom seemed out of place and asked me to explain why. He's right, and I will have a quick and dirty tip for you, but first, I want to explain in grammatical terms why it should be who.

First, you have to separate out the clause that contains the who or whom. All you need to care about is how the who or whom functions within that clause.

In the example sentence--We never did meet his teammate who he said works the room in his absence--the last part (who he said works the room in his absence) is something called an adjectival clause. That just means the whole thing functions as an adjective to tell use more about the teammate. Who is the teammate? Someone who he says works the room in his absence.

The part that always seems to mess people up in clauses like that is the he says part. Someone who [he says] works the room in his absence.

It seems as if people see the he and think it might be the subject of the clause, but it's not. The good news is that he says is a separate clause within the adjectival clause, and you can just ignore it. It's parenthetical--an aside (1, 2). Take it out in your imagination as you look at the sentence or cross it out. Taking it out leaves you with the clause who works the room in his absence.
Web Extra

Here is the progression of how we whittled³ down this sentence to just the clause that matters for deciding whether to use who or whom:
We never did meet his teammate who he said works the room in his absence.

We never did meet his teammate who he said works the room in his absence.

We never did meet his teammate who he said works the room in his absence.

Now that you've whittled down the sentence to just the clause you need to consider, it's a lot easier to decide between who and whom. In fact, you can use the simple trick I gave you a year ago: if you can hypothetically answer the question with him, use whom. They both end with the letter m. If you can't answer with him, use who. The reason is that you use whom when it's the object of the clause, and him is an object pronoun that is easier for people to remember than whom. For some reason people just seem to know when to use he and him, but they have trouble remembering the difference between who and whom.

So if we go back to the example sentence, the clause is who works the room in his absence. If you answer that question, the answer is HE works the room in his absence. Since the answer is he, and not him, you know the correct pronoun is who.

You could actually use the same trick without removing the he said clause from the sentence. You could ask Who did he say works the room in his absence? And the answer would be He says HE works the room in his absence. But I think it helps to know you can take out he said clause. The same holds true for clauses such as the man who they believe is Sir Fragalot, the man who she determined⁴ is Sir Fragalot, the man who Squiggly claims is Sir Fragalot, and the man who I say is Sir Fragalot--you can just ignore the they believe, she determined, Squiggly claims, and I say parts.

I've put some extra information in the transcript⁵ for this episode at quickanddirtytips.com in case you want more information.
 
Web Extra

The parenthetical clause doesn't have to be just two words such as they believe or she determined. It can be longer, as in the following examples:
·         He is the man who Peter, Paul, and Mary heartily⁶ believe is Sir Fragalot.
·         He is the man who Aardvark believes with all his heart is Sir Fragalot.

If you add the words to be to the previous examples, it makes whom the correct choice:
·         He is the man who they believe is Sir Fragalot. (Who is the subject of is. The answer to the question, "Who do they believe is Sir Fragalot?" is "He is Sir Fragalot." He equals who; they're both subject pronouns.)
·         He is the man whom they believe to be Sir Fragalot. (Whom is the subject of the infinitive⁷ to be, and therefore it has to be in the objective case (2). The answer to the question "Whom do they believe Sir Fragalot to be?" is "They believe him to be Sir Fragalot." Him equals whom; they're both object pronouns. You can't remove they believe to be, it's not parenthetical.)

[I'm a little uneasy with my explanation on the final bullet. I have a credible⁸ reference, and I believe whom is the correct choice, but it's just not sitting right in my head. Listeners, do you have any thoughts on the matter?]

Administrative⁹ Stuff

This week Legal Lad is talking about whether printed waivers on the back of parking stubs are actually binding¹⁰. If you're not listening to his show, you're really missing out. He always seems answer a question about something I've wondered, but never bothered to investigate. You can find his show, my contact information, and all of the other great Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts at quickanddirtytips.com.

That's all. Thanks for listening.
 

1 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

2 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

3 whittled   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He whittled a simple toy from the piece of wood. 他把那块木头削成了一个简易的玩具。
• The government's majority has been whittled down to eight. 政府多数票减少到了八票。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

6 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

7 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

8 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

9 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

10 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。