Who & Whom / That
Adding a descriptive clause
An adjective clause uses pronouns to connect the dependent clause to the independent clause.
Relative Pronouns
| SUBJECT PRONOUNS | OBJECT PRONOUN |
|---|---|
Use who or that to replace the subject noun of an adjective clause for a person. |
Use whom, who or that (informal) to replace the object noun of an adjective clause for a person. |
The woman who called you is my friend. |
The woman whom/ who you called is my friend. |
The woman that called you is my friend. (informal) |
The woman that you called is my friend. (informal) |
which is not used for people
Subject who vs. Object whom Pronouns
| WHO - SUBJECT OF THE CLAUSE | WHOM - OBJECT OF THE CLAUSE |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Common Mistakes
| ERRORS | FIXES |
|---|---|
The guy is
here who wants to play football. |
The guy who wants to play football is here. |
*The man which you are talking about isn't a friend. |
The man whom/ who/ that you are talking about isn't a friend. |
Object Pronouns
Omitting Who(m)
When can you omit who?
| SUBJECT PRONOUN OF CLAUSE | OBJECT PRONOUN OF CLAUSE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
When who takes the place of the subject noun/pronoun of a clause, it cannot be omitted (deleted). |
When who(m) takes the place of the object noun/pronoun of a clause, it can be omitted (deleted). |
||
The woman |
who called you is
here. |
The woman |
[who] you called is
here. |
How do you know if it takes the place of an object? (This is a method for simple clauses.)
| FOLLOWED BY A VERB | FOLLOWED BY A SUBJECT |
|---|---|
If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, then it is likely that the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. It cannot be deleted. |
If the relative pronoun is followed by a subject noun or pronoun – I, we, he, she, they – then that or who must be the object and it can be deleted. |
They guy who showed us his car appears to be honest. (Cannot delete who.) |
The
guy [who] we spoke to appears to be honest. (Can delete who.) |
The guy who sold me the car disappeared. (Cannot delete who.) |
The guy [who/whom] Jack sold the car to is angry. (Can delete who.) |
The driver who probably hit my car lives next door. (Cannot delete who.) |
The driver [who] Jack and I probably hit is angry. (Can delete who.) |
Advanced Points
Prepositions in Clauses
| AT END OF CLAUSE | BEFORE THE RELATIVE PRONOUN |
|---|---|
When the verb accepts an indirect object, then the object preposition is likely to occur at the end of the adjective clause. Leaving the preposition at the end of the clause is informal use. |
When using whom or which , a preposition belonging to the indirect object is placed before the relative pronoun. This is formal use (academic and business). |
The police officer whom I gave my license to took down my information. |
The police officer to whom I gave my license took down my information. |
The police officer who I gave my license to took down my information. |
The police officer to who I gave my license took down my information. (Use whom.) |
The police officer that I gave my license to took down my information. |
The police officer to that I gave my license took down my information. (Use whom.) |
The license which he was looking at had expired the week before. |
The license at which he was looking had expired the week before. |
The license that he was looking at had expired the week before. |
The license at that he was looking had expired the week before. (Use which.) |
Practice
Taking Classes
Which relative pronoun(s) can complete each sentence?
Select an option to the right. (Internet Explorer users may need to click inside the feedback box to force the text to appear.)
