In a Manner of Speaking 4

It annoys us. All of us. The bizarre grammatical error that could be the difference between a passing and failing grade. The evil "who" and "whom."

What drives people so crazy about this is that they don't know which to use or when to use them. It's really simple and, when you figure it out, you'll find a lot more things funny.

"Whom" is the key to it all. If you know when to use "whom", you know when to use "who", so let's start there. "Whom" is an object. (a wha?) An object. When writing sentences, there are the wonderful prepositions. Basic rule with prepositions is "If you can 'do it' to a house, it's a preposition." This is kind of stupid because it can get things confused with verbs (which is what you do!)

A prepostion is always ALWAYS followed by a noun (person, place, thing or idea.) If a verb follows, it is actually a verb in noun form.

Examples:

"The food is on the table." Here, on is the preposition, followed by "the table."

"We are about to go aboard the boat." Here, aboard is the preposition, followed by "the boat."

Now, back to "whom." Whom is always ALWAYS preceded by a preposition. If you can replace whom with a noun and form a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (a sentence with a preposition and a noun) then the sentence is correct. It takes a few tries, but it's easy when you get the feeling for it.

So, concerning the subtitle. "Whom said What to Who." In this sentence, "to" is a preposition, followed by "who", and if you've been paying attention, you already know that isn't right. Simply sway "whom" and "who" and you will have the correct sentence structure.

Just My Opinion.

THE SMALL PRINT:

(Those of you who knew the moment you read it, congratulations. Give yourself a pat on the back and help those who don't understand. I'm pretty sure if I handed you the components to make a tank and asked you to make it, you'd need help. Look at it that way. The grammar rules for English are the components for building language. Just because you can build it, doesn't mean everyone can!)