PRCA 3330. TOW Week 2- Mignon Fogarty

Today I was on Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl website and found several of her podcasts as well as her blog posts on correct grammar usage very helpful and informative.  I chose to listen to her “who” vs. “whom” podcast from March of 2007 and found it a very good explanation and refresher of the confusing pronoun choices (Who Vs. Whom).

I will start off by telling you what I learned from listening to the podcast.  First, I learned that who and whom are both pronouns, and both refer to either the object or subject in a sentence.  More specifically, who refers to the subject (the person doing something), whereas whom refers to the object (the thing that is having something done to it).

I’ll say this again so as to avoid confusion.  Who refers to the subject.  The subject is the person who is doing the action.

Whom refers to the object.  The object is the thing that is having something done to it.

A good example of this would be saying “I love you.” YOU are the object of MY affection. YOU is the object of the sentence, because I am loving YOU, which makes me the subject and you the object.

If you have difficulty telling the difference between subjects and objects there is one simple way to decide when to use who or whom. Ask yourself the question and decide if you would answer it with “him” or “he”.

For example: “Who or Whom do you love?” –Answer “I love him!”  So, “Whom do you love?” is correct.

Another example: “Who or Whom stepped on the bug?”

-Answer: “HE stepped on the bug.” So, “Who stepped on the bug?” is correct.

Whenever “him” is your answer “whom will be the pronoun”. Just remember “whom=him”!

The thing that most surprised me about this podcast was that I could learn so much about a little grammar rule in 4 minutes or less and that she made it so simple! I could listen to these on the go (she now has an “App” for the iphone) and hopefully improve my grammar rapidly!

I actually would love to continue reading Fogarty’s blog and keep listening to her podcasts whenever possible and improve my grammar skills! I think that now I do have a better grasp over the Who vs. Whom debate.