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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Need help
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janaesl
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Need help
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While combining a sentence which one is correct? who or whom She is a friend ( who / whom) I can rely on thanks in advance for your help |
25 Apr 2019
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redcamarocruiser
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"She is a friend on whom I can rely" makes it clearer. Whom comes after prepositions, and in this transformation of the word order in your sentence we can see that it must be whom. � If one hadn�t thought of transforming the word order, one could google� "she is a friend whom I can rely on" and then google "She is a friend who I can rely on".� The sentence with whom has 82 million results. The sentence with who has 1 result.
Edit: I agree with Lynne�s, Bruce�s, and Douglas� responses below, of course.
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25 Apr 2019
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cunliffe
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She is a friend upon whom I can rely! I think if you were going to be so formal as to use �whom�, you might as well go the whole hog and have �upon� and rearrange the sentence, as well. Seriously, Mary is right (of course). To be grammatically correct, you need �whom� not �who�. However, �whom�, I am sorry to say, is going the way of �lest� and using it in conversation marks you out as a pretentious know-it-all grammar show-off, so I use it whenever I get the chance,  with a supercilious grin plastered across my face. You don�t want to be like that! The natural utterance is: �She is a friend I can rely on.� And I think that would be fine in writing, as well. I�m afraid both of the options given sound a bit strange.
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25 Apr 2019
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Aisha77
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🤣🤣🤣So funny you are Lynne! |
25 Apr 2019
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yanogator
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I agree with Lynne. Mary is right about the grammar, but "whom" has nearly disappeared from our language, except in English class. Bruce |
25 Apr 2019
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douglas
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...and more colloquial: "She�s a friend that I can rely on." Note: I tell my students that, if they want to sound like a native speaker, they should only use "whom" as a salutation in a formal business letter ("To whom it may concern") and no where else. The word is dead and that salutation is its tombstone. :) Douglas |
26 Apr 2019
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almaz
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Two quotes, nearly half a century apart, which perfectly sum up the use of whom: �One moment, please. Whom did you wish to see?�
Degarmo spun on his heel and looked at me wonderingly. �Did he say �whom�?�
�Yeah, but don�t hit him,� I said. �There is such a word.�
Degarmo licked his lips. �I knew there was,� he said. �I often wondered where they kept it.�
(Raymond Chandler, �The Lady in the Lake, 1943)
�As far as I�m concerned, �whom� is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.�
(Calvin Trillin, quoted by Steven Pinker in �The Sense of Style�)
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26 Apr 2019
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valodra
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@Douglas , I love your note, and will - for sure - use it !  Val |
26 Apr 2019
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