Debata o tem, kdaj uporabiti who oziroma whom poteka v angleškem jeziku ves čas. Jezik je živa stvar in se ves čas spreminja, zato se meje dovoljenega in sprejemljivega ves čas premikajo.
Glede na pravila formalne slovnice, torej knjižne oblike, se bi moral who uporabljati na položaju osebka, medtem kot naj bi se whom uporabljal na mestu predmeta in za predlogi.
Tvorba vprašanj
Who made this decision? [who je v tem primeru osebek stavka = kdo]
Whom do you think we should support? [whom je v tem primeru predmet stavka = koga]
To whom do you wish to speak? [v tem primeru whom sledi predlogu to]
Whom v praksi uporablja malo ljudi, saj zveni izredno uradno, včasih tudi pretenciozno. Zato le-tega opuščajo in ga nadomeščajo z who.
Who do you think we should support?
Who do you wish to speak to?
Who in whom kot oziralna zaimka
Who in whom sta tudi rabljena kot oziralna zaimka, ki v povedi vežeta en stavek z drugim.
The woman whom (položaj predmeta) you met yesterday is coming to dinner.
The children, who (položaj osebka) had been as good as gold, then suddenly started misbehaving.
The people to whom the funds were supposedly directed benefited little from them.
Kot pri tvorbi vprašanj, je raba zaimka whom v zgornjih primerih izredno formalna. Večina ljudi bi le-tega ponovno opustila in ga nadomestila z who ali that ali pa ga sploh ne uporabila.
The woman who you met yesterday is coming to dinner.
The woman that you met yesterday is coming to dinner.
The woman you met yesterday is coming to dinner.
Prav tako bi ljudje v tretjem primeru od zgoraj premaknili predlog proti koncu stavka.
The people the funds were supposedly directed to benefited little.
Obvezna raba zaimka whom
V eni posebni situaciji pa je raba zaimka whom obvezna, in sicer, če pred njim stojijo količinski izrazi, kot so all of, both of, few of, many of, several of, itd.
This Stadium accommodates 75,000 spectators, all of whom are seated.
Congratulations to all the winners, most of whom are definitely reading this blog!
