A slight overuse of italics.
Dear Everyone:
(Actually, this is mostly directed at Hollywood, because three different TV shows have stepped on this particular squid of mine in the past few weeks, but I see no reason not to include everybody else, as well.)
Please figure out the who/whom thing. PLEASE. When the pronoun is the object of the sentence, it's whom. Not who. By whom. With whom. For whom. From, to, without, after, against, at, and about whom. It's not that hard, I promise. Here, I will give you a cheat:
Reword the sentence to use he/him instead of who/whom. If you'd say "he" use who. If you'd say "him" use whom. Example: If I say "Jack shouted at Daniel," and you didn't hear me well, you'd ask "Who shouted at whom?" You would NOT "Who shouted at who?" anymore than you would say "He shouted at he." Because that would be wrong and bad and it would make me cry.
So please, please, for the sake of my mascara (to say nothing of my sanity) use the cheat and stop using the wrong form of the pronoun. My family and friends, who have been subjected to more than one rant on this subject, thank you in advance.
Love,
Marie
P.S. If even one person tries to sell me on the idea that it's okay to use "who" instead of "whom" in one's writing because a lot of people mix them up in everyday speech, making it okay to have fictional characters do it? I will hunt them down and set them on fire. Thank you. --M.
(Actually, this is mostly directed at Hollywood, because three different TV shows have stepped on this particular squid of mine in the past few weeks, but I see no reason not to include everybody else, as well.)
Please figure out the who/whom thing. PLEASE. When the pronoun is the object of the sentence, it's whom. Not who. By whom. With whom. For whom. From, to, without, after, against, at, and about whom. It's not that hard, I promise. Here, I will give you a cheat:
Reword the sentence to use he/him instead of who/whom. If you'd say "he" use who. If you'd say "him" use whom. Example: If I say "Jack shouted at Daniel," and you didn't hear me well, you'd ask "Who shouted at whom?" You would NOT "Who shouted at who?" anymore than you would say "He shouted at he." Because that would be wrong and bad and it would make me cry.
So please, please, for the sake of my mascara (to say nothing of my sanity) use the cheat and stop using the wrong form of the pronoun. My family and friends, who have been subjected to more than one rant on this subject, thank you in advance.
Love,
Marie
P.S. If even one person tries to sell me on the idea that it's okay to use "who" instead of "whom" in one's writing because a lot of people mix them up in everyday speech, making it okay to have fictional characters do it? I will hunt them down and set them on fire. Thank you. --M.