Too subtle for me

Question

How would I teach the difference between "who and whom" to an ESL class?

Great question and one with a sublte answer too. I hope I was able to help a little. - francobollo, May 24, 2013

Answer 1

The words "who" and "whom" are both pronouns.

First, to know whether to use "who" or "whom," we need to talk about the difference between subjects and objects because you use "who" when you are referring to the subject of a clause and "whom" when you are referring to the object of a clause.

The man who is standing there is my father -- who is followed by a verb and is the subject = the man

The man whom I just dropped off at the station is my father -- whom is followed by a pronoun -- whom is the object of the clause I just dropped off at the station.

Here is a quick and dirty tip. Like "whom," the pronoun "him" ends with "m." When you're trying to decide whether to use "who" or "whom," ask yourself if the answer to the question would be "he" or "him."

Who is always que/quien in Spanish.

El hombre que está parado allí es mi padre

Whom is a quien, de quien, para quien, por quien.

El hombre a quien acabo de dejar en la estación es mi padre.

I hope this helps!

I always love your responses Franco! Even when I am not covering certain topics, I still write these down just in case I come across them in the future! - tranceslyvania, May 24, 2013

Muchas gracias! - 0095ca4c, May 24, 2013

Same here, always good understandable explanations from francobollo. Gracias! - britisk, May 24, 2013

Yes, good explanation, and one that I think of native Spanish speakers will find very applicable, with those two word lists at the end. - rogspax, May 24, 2013

Answer 2

A trick is to substitute the who and whom with he or him. Who is there? He is there. Not whom is there. Not him is there. To whom it may concern. Whom is the object of the preposition. It may concern him. Not it may concern he. Linking verbs can reverse the sentence. This is who? This is she or he. He or she is this. To whom am I speaking. I am speaking to him or her.

" to whom am I speaking" Cheers mate. - britisk, May 24, 2013

Good technique (great actually, though I think it´s probably more applicable to native speakers, who intrinsically know which of those tests ¨just sounds rigth¨) Still, very good and quite vote-worthy. Thanks. - rogspax, May 24, 2013

Thank you britisk. I had a hard time writing this explanation. I don't hear the word whom a lot here bacause people use who for everything. - 0083f5dc, May 24, 2013

Answer 3

And to Franco´s excellent example, which includes subject and direct object, I´d like to add the indirect-object (or prepositional phrase, if you prefer)

The man to whom I gave the ball is my father.

The father (the indirect object) received the ball (the direct object) via the action of the verb (gave) from the subject (I)