When, where. Be
sure that when refers to time, and where refers to place. It is wrong to use these words to designate a situation or case that does not suggest a particular time or place. WRONG Democracy is when the people rule RIGHT:
“Democracy is the rule of the people.”
Where. See
when. Which. See
that and
who.Who, whom whoever, whomever. Ah, the pain of choosing between who and
“whom”! It really isn’t that hard if you remember that who is always and only a
subject, and whom is always and only an
object: Who hits whom Who does what to whom Who is that That is who With whom did you talk You talked with whom?”
Each
of the examples uses the pronouns who and whom properly. The only confusing part is when who appears after certain
verbs, like
“is” and other
linkingverbs (appear
“become,” and soon. The right choice is who because linking verbs do not have objects they have
subject complements (also called
“predicatenominatives”). Subject complements are in the same form (and
case) as subjects.
A further confusion arises when who or
whoever is the subject of a clause.Since clauses can themselves be the
objects of other things (like
prepositions), the correct subject form of who might look odd in what seems to be a place that requires an object Give the bat to whoever is up next Whoever is correct here because it is the subject of is up and not the object of to The whole clause
“whoever is up next is the object of to but whoever plays a role within that clause that requires it to be in the subject form
{nominative case. To whom do I give the bat To whoever is up next.”
In everyday speech or writing, the grammatical
distinction between who and“whom” is weakening and even becoming a sign of pretension. Who is that for?”
sounds right, while For whom is that might get an odd look, even though it is technically correct because whom is the object of for Of course, if your everyday circle of friends or
audience is made up of English professors, then the rst example might be worse than the second.
Similarly, in all formal writing, it is important to maintain the
standard English usage and observe the grammatical
rules. Just how far speech or writing can deviate and still be comprehensible and acceptable is a matter for each speaker or writer to judge. See also
grammar, usage, and
style.Note
also that who refers to people, whereas which refers to things.
Whoever. See
who. Whom. See
who.Whomever. See
who.Who’s, whose. “Who’s” is a
contraction of who is Whose is a
possessive pronoun that modi es a
noun, at least implicitly Whose house is this Whose is it See also
pronoun and
modifier.Whose. See
who’s.Will. See
shall.Win, won, won. An
irregular verb in its main,
past tense, and past
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