Legal Writing

Pronoun madness

By Pam_Nelson

Yes, there are much more important issues than this, but a few readers do notice when we mix up who and whom. Here is an example from Friday's 2A, a spot where we promote stories coming up in print or features online. Of course, the sentence should read, "Go online now and see whom you selected as the Triangle's Best Bartender." The test is to rearrange the sentence and to try another pronoun: You selected him as the Best Bartender. The object of the verb "selected" needs to be a pronoun in the objective case. I use "him" in these examples because "him" sounds like "whom."

As I said, much more important issues exist. That's why it's annoying sometimes to see an error like this one. It distracted at least one reader enough that he wrote to us about it. 

Some people think we should give up on whom, but should we also give up on him or them? Perhaps, by the end of the century, we will.

Full post as published by Triangle Grammar Guide on August 10, 2008 (boomark / email).