# Who and Whom in a sentence **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750 "2012-10-15T04:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/1 "2012-10-15T04:33:54Z")
Is it He is the person whom I tutor? or He is the person who I tutor? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/2 "2012-10-15T04:36:46Z")
I’d write, “He is the person that I tutor” – not because it avoids the problem, but because it sounds better to me. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/3 "2012-10-15T04:54:32Z")
Whom, if you insist on the distinction. Who is generally fine in all contexts nowadays, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/4 "2012-10-15T05:13:25Z")
Quick guide: …who I tutor? --\> I tutor he. WRONG. …whom I tutor? --\> I tutor him. RIGHT. * * * For “He is the person who/whom tutors me.”: …who tutors me. --\> He tutors me. RIGHT. …whom tutors me. --\> Him tutors me. WRONG. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/5 "2012-10-15T09:30:07Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’d write, “He is the person that I tutor” – not because it avoids the problem, but because it sounds better to me. Not unless you consider him non-human . . . or a species evolved enough to need tutoring. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/6 "2012-10-15T10:15:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Not unless you consider him non-human . . . or a species evolved enough to need tutoring. I’ve heard of that rule, but I’m a person that doesn’t believe in it. Perhaps it’s US English versus non-US English thing. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/7 "2012-10-15T10:24:16Z")
Or drop the who/whom altogether: He is the person I tutor. In any case, I can’t see any situation that would require such a clumsy and contorted sentence. What’s wrong with “I tutor him”? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/8 "2012-10-15T10:59:24Z")
Him be the person whats me tutor. Me him be tutor person. Tutor do I to he. Anything works just fine for me–the important thing is what I intend, after all. Rules is stupid. And say NOTHING about my communication skills either. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/9 "2012-10-15T12:00:11Z")
One of my favorite Gracie Allen quotes: “She is the man who owns the grocery store’s sister.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/10 "2012-10-15T13:46:27Z")
I was taught ‘’“Use who where you’d use he and whom where you’d use him.” I’d write “I tutor him.” Simple writing is good writing. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/11 "2012-10-15T14:05:47Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Or drop the who/whom altogether: He is the person I tutor. > > In any case, I can’t see any situation that would require such a clumsy and contorted sentence. What’s wrong with “I tutor him”? There’s nothing wrong with it but there’s nothing clumsy or contorted about the original either. “He is the person whom I tutor” is a well-phrased answer to, “Who is that person sitting in your kitchen?” “I tutor him” is a better answer to, “What is your relationship to that person in your kitchen?” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/12 "2012-10-15T14:25:17Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > “Who is that person sitting in your kitchen?” The guy I tutor. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/13 "2012-10-15T14:29:11Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Or drop the who/whom altogether: He is the person I tutor. > > In any case, I can’t see any situation that would require such a clumsy and contorted sentence. What’s wrong with “I tutor him”? In English we have multiple ways of expressing an idea. What’s wrong with using them? There’s nothing “clumsy and contorted” about saying “He is the person whom I tutor.” There might be many reasons to prefer that structure in a particular case, such as shifting emphasis to “he” rather than “I” or for linguistic variety in a passage. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/14 "2012-10-15T14:30:19Z")
My intermittent interactions w/ the SDMB have persuaded me that language and grammar questions belong in GD. The general debate around prescriptive versus descriptive approaches needs to be resolved before these questions get put in GQ, followed by an agreement–assuming the prescriptionists win that debate–of who gets to do the prescribing (when I am unavailable 😉 ). The sad truth is that the polloi always win in the long run, regardless of how lousy and uneducated their current usage is. The most that prescriptionists can hope for is to slow down the rate of change… As an aside…wasn’t DYoungEsq’s departure more or less precipitated by too many polloi getting on his case about his grammatical high-horsity? (brb, l8tr) ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/15 "2012-10-15T18:35:42Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’ve heard of that rule, but I’m a person that doesn’t believe in it. Perhaps it’s US English versus non-US English thing. As long as English speakers have used that, they’ve applied the word to people. That predates who and whom. When people started writing books that criticized usage, some condemned the use of that when applied to people. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/16 "2012-10-15T20:42:08Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Him be the person whats me tutor. > > Me him be tutor person. > > Tutor do I to he. > > Anything works just fine for me–the important thing is what I intend, after all. Rules is stupid. And say NOTHING about my communication skills either. I like all of thoses: also, “He be one stupid mutha fucka.” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/17 "2012-10-15T21:13:15Z")
Gee, prr, something on your mind? If the op wishes to make her 1930s schoolmarm aunt happy, yes, “He is the person whom I tutor.” is correct. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to write or speak in this way. There’s nothing terribly wrong with choosing to say who or that, though, either. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/18 "2012-10-16T01:14:54Z")
> [@Robb](#): > > As long as English speakers have used that, they’ve applied the word to people. That predates who and whom. When people started writing books that criticized usage, some condemned the use of that when applied to people. I learned the rule way back in 11th grade, from Miss Morris, my Elizabethan English teacher. Not merely because she taught us Shakespeare, but because she arguably was Elizabethan. ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/19 "2012-10-16T01:33:00Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I learned the rule way back in 11th grade, from Miss Morris, my Elizabethan English teacher. Not merely because she taught us Shakespeare, but because she arguably was Elizabethan. Shakespeare violated the “rule.” ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750/20 "2012-10-16T08:21:54Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Gee, prr, something on your mind? > If the op wishes to make her 1930s schoolmarm aunt happy, yes, “He is the person whom I tutor.” is correct. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to write or speak in this way. There’s nothing terribly wrong with choosing to say who or that, though, either. Nothing terribly wrong, no. It’s just that I will judge you accurately to be an ignorant slob. That’s an easy judgment for both of us to live with, and certainly, as you say, it’s not terribly wrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-and-whom-in-a-sentence/637750.md?page=2)