Who Or Whom?

How is your grammar? And no, I’m not talking about that sweet old lady who is married to your grandpa.

There were many things during my school lessons that befuddled me – and believe me, I don’t take much befuddling. I’m pretty sure I was away the day my English teacher covered this one (either that or I had bunked off for the day). So when I came across a really easy way to understand the ‘who’ or ‘whom’ rule I thought some of you out there may appreciate it too.

OK. This is the easiest way to understand when we use ‘who’ and when we should use ‘whom’.

Who = he/she whom = him/her

Who broke the toy? Or whom broke the toy?
(he/she broke the toy) (him/her broke the toy)

We are referring to he/she so the correct way would be ‘who broke the toy?’

OK, let’s try another one:

Who do I need to see? Or whom do I need to see?
(do I need to see he/she?) (do I need to see him/her)

We need to see him/her so we would use ‘whom do I need to see?’

Is this making any sense yet??

OK. One more – you might have heard this one before!

For who the bell tolls Or For whom the bell tolls
(the bell tolls for he/she) (the bell tolls for him/her)

The bell tolls for him so we would use ‘For whom the bell tolls’.

Well, I hope this has helped you as much as it has helped me.