Who vs. whom

[nassar]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #47 "Question Words", question 9

My mother is the one ......... sings on TV every morning.

(a) whom
(b) which
(c) who
(d) whose

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #47 "Question Words", answer 9

My mother is the one who sings on TV every morning.

Correct answer: (c) who
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when should i use who and whom and what is the difference between plz?

nassar

[Prezbucky]

my understanding is that "who" is a subject and "whom" is an object.

"Who eats rice these days?" -- "Who" is the subject

"Rice is eaten by whom?" -- "Rice" is the subject

"Who gets the rice?" -- "Who" is the subject

"To whom is rice given?" -- "Rice" is the subject, since we could re-phrase this as "Rice is given to whom?"

One trick to perhaps make things easier is that "whom" is often preceded by a preposition:

To whom
Through whom
For whom
Under whom
With whom
In/Into whom

etc.

Who is the best player in the world?
For whom is this play best suited?

I once knew a person who could eat two pounds of steak in one sitting.
I once knew a person for whom one pound of steak was not sufficient.

I hope that helps somewhat!

There are cases in which "whom" is used without a preposition. Here's an example:

"Whom did you call last night when you got home?"

In this case, "you" is the subject.

This could be re-stated as "You called whom last night when you got home?"

When the sentence is written that way, it's (hopefully) easier to spot the subject.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Hi Nassar, in addition to Tom's very interesting explanation you might want to read who vs. whom to understand the difference between both words.
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