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To use “who” and “whom” correctly, it’s important to know the difference between a subject and direct object. “Who” is for subjects, while “whom” is for direct objects. Use a quick swap with “I” or “me” to determine the correct pronoun.
English speakers live in a subject-object universe, which is an important thing to remember when dealing with pronouns like “who” and “who.” To use these two words correctly in a sentence, speakers must know the difference between a subject and a direct object. “Who” usually takes the place of a subject, otherwise known as the nominative case. “Who” generally replaces the direct object, also known as the accusative case.
A standard English sentence tends to follow a subject-verb-object pattern, although there are always variations. The subject either does something to the direct object, or the subject is just the predicative nominative. In the sentence “I left class early today”, the subject is “I”. If a speaker wanted to turn that sentence into a question, he would use the subject form: “Who left class early today?” This word always substitutes for a noun that acts as a subject or predicate nominative, as in “Someone honest like Bill Johnson is what we need in office.” While the effective subject may be “someone”, the nominative of the predicate that corresponds to “someone” is who. When the verb is considered intransitive, meaning that it does not transfer its action to a direct object, then “who” is the appropriate pronoun to use.
On the object side of the sentence, however, things change. In the sentence “The teacher sent Alvin to the principal’s office,” Alvin is the direct object or recipient of the action. A question formed from that sentence would read “Who sent the teacher to the principal’s office?” This pronoun is the appropriate substitute for a noun used as a direct object. “Who should I send?” could be reworked as “I’ll send who?” which might make the direct subject-verb-object relationship clearer. This term will never be used as the subject of a sentence and “Who” will never be used in place of a direct object.
When in doubt, speakers or writers can use a quick swap to decide between these terms. By substituting “I” or “me”, the speaker should be able to hear which pronoun sounds more correct. “Who got the last cookie?” should sound better like “I got the cookie.” of “I got the cookie”. Similarly, a question such as “Kelly Smith invited me to prom” should be rendered as “Who invited Kelly Smith to prom?” instead of “Who invited Kelly Smith to prom?” Subjects are matched with subjects, and direct objects are matched with direct objects.
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