Saturday, March 12, 2016

usage of who vs whom



Sentence that needs correction:



"Angela was curious about the unopened letter on the table and wondered for whom it was meant."




I think the whom should be replaced with who because the sentence can be rewritten as



Angela was curious about the unopened letter on the table and wondered "who was it meant for?"



Correct answer: the sentence contains no error.


why am I wrong?



Answer



'Who is it meant for ?' is incorrect, both because of the mix up between direct object and subject and also because of the preposition at the end of the sentence.


Whereas most English speakers have lazily slipped into commonly putting prepositions at the end of sentences, it looks and sounds sloppy in the written form.


The correct versions would be 'For whom is it meant'.



Who is used when referring to the subject of the sentence and whom when referring to the direct object.


Thus:


The man who stole my wallet is in jail. The man whom the dog bit is in hospital.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...