For What It's Worth

Jeffrey B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

For What It's Worth

I can't speak for the other English speakers around the world, but as a native-born & bred Yank I can tell you that the word "whom" is almost nonexistent in American English. About the only places you will see or hear this in the States is in literature, academia, formal correspondence or maybe in the entertainment or news media. The reality is that Americans overwhelmingly use "who" in all of these cases to the extent that it is the accepted norm (even though it may drive the English professors crazy).

Asked 2 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Jeffrey, 

Interesting comment! I can assure you that a lot of British people don't use 'whom' either but non-native speakers of English often do as they have a deeper knowledge of grammar learned from a very young age.

Here is a page on the English we use in Kwiziq which you might find interesting -

https://www.kwiziq.com/is-this-english-correct

Bonne Continuation !

Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

This British speaker uses "whom" sometimes, but generally only after a preposition. I wouldn't use it the way it's used in this lesson, but it's not wrong, of course. This is not because I lack "a deeper knowledge of grammar", but because I understand how it is actually used in modern English, and I wouldn't want to sound pompous. I am afraid that non-native speakers who think that they are following the "rules of grammar" will just end up sounding like non-native speakers.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Agree with all that's been said. Maybe one can take some of the lesser used grammatical distinctions, those that have been blurred and lost over time, as an opportunity to brush up on the finer points of English grammar. "Who" and "whom" distinguishes between direct and indirect object in English. When you understand which to use when, you'll have an easier time learning the French distinction between those two concepts.

Andrew W.B1Kwiziq community member

en Angleterre aussi

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

As a rather ancient Brit, I’d agree that "whom" as a direct object sounds stuffy and unnecessarily formal. But I did take exception to the bit in your article that says "Here in the UK, in contemporary English, no one would ever use the syntax "He ate only sweets"!! This seems still to make a useful distinction (and reminds me of John Lennon in Imagine:  "above us only sky", though I guess that’s hardly contemporary English now)

Becky W.C1Kwiziq community member

Agree with this completely, I'm English born - 29 now, and when I came across the 'Qui est-ce qui'/ 'qui est-ce que' lessons, my first thought was 'I have no idea how to use 'whom' in English'. Whilst I understand this is a french learning site, I do think a very brief refresher on whom may be useful to help with the distinction. Especially as I didn't know what a indirect pronoun was until I started learning french

CécileKwiziq team member

Hi Becky,

You might find this page useful -

https://www.wm.edu/as/wrc/newresources/handouts/who-vs-whom.pdf

For What It's Worth

I can't speak for the other English speakers around the world, but as a native-born & bred Yank I can tell you that the word "whom" is almost nonexistent in American English. About the only places you will see or hear this in the States is in literature, academia, formal correspondence or maybe in the entertainment or news media. The reality is that Americans overwhelmingly use "who" in all of these cases to the extent that it is the accepted norm (even though it may drive the English professors crazy).

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