Who Vs. Whom Prescriptive Rule
Who vs. Whom Prescriptive Paper
James Winter
23 April 2013
EDUC 571: Dr. Shelly Baseri
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Who v. Whom Prescriptive Rule Paper
I am a fan of rock and roll music and one of my favorite songs is by Metallica. The name of the song is, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Hetfield and Burton, 1984). However, several of my friends still mistake the name of the song and use who in the title. I have made the mistake of saying who in place of whom and vice versa. Poor grammar is a pet peeve of mine and I finally want to put to rest the question as to whether a phrase should consist of who or whom. I may not be able to reach everyone with this paper …show more content…
Drew Pinsky on CNN was also mistaken of the same rule and resulted in this quote with an odd grammar choice involving who or whom.
Source information:
.
Date
2011 (111215)
Title
Parents of Alleged Hazing Death Victim Speak; Woman Gives Voice
Source
CNN_DrDrew
Expanded context:
PINSKY: Is it, perhaps, just something -- like any job, some jobs are suitable for some people and not others. Are you just somebody for whom that stay-at-home mom job is the right choice?
Finally, the Chicago Sun-Times’ author Jim DeRogatis fell down on the job where the who vs. whom rule is concerned and this quote slipped by the editor.
Source information:
.
Date
1994 (19940213)
Publication information
SHOW; Pg. 1; NC
Title
The Next Prime Cut, Chicago^s Red Red Meat;
Author
BY JIM DeROGATIS
Source
Chicago Sun-Times
Expanded context:
“We were playing a show in Richmond, Va., to about five people, “recalls guitarist Glenn Girard.” We had cleared the room of all the skate-punks who there to see the two hard-core bands before us.
Table 1: Who appears in the COCA:
SECTION
ALL
SPOKEN
FICTION
MAGAZINE
NEWSPAPER
ACADEMIC
1990-1994
1995-1999
2000-2004
2005-2009
2010-2012
FREQ
14713
5620
1941
2540
2722
1890
2932
3222
3450 …show more content…
whom rule is alive and well and due to many conflicts as to how who/whom ought to be used in spoken English, we’re not following the rule provided. We are not using it correctly and we have defaulted to simply use who rather than trying to learn when whom is more appropriate. We also should consider that some people consider whom to be a rather pretentious and snobbish term. On the other hand, it seems as though whom is strictly becoming academic vocabulary and is only considered in academic papers and
James Winter
23 April 2013
EDUC 571: Dr. Shelly Baseri
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Who v. Whom Prescriptive Rule Paper
I am a fan of rock and roll music and one of my favorite songs is by Metallica. The name of the song is, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Hetfield and Burton, 1984). However, several of my friends still mistake the name of the song and use who in the title. I have made the mistake of saying who in place of whom and vice versa. Poor grammar is a pet peeve of mine and I finally want to put to rest the question as to whether a phrase should consist of who or whom. I may not be able to reach everyone with this paper …show more content…
Drew Pinsky on CNN was also mistaken of the same rule and resulted in this quote with an odd grammar choice involving who or whom.
Source information:
.
Date
2011 (111215)
Title
Parents of Alleged Hazing Death Victim Speak; Woman Gives Voice
Source
CNN_DrDrew
Expanded context:
PINSKY: Is it, perhaps, just something -- like any job, some jobs are suitable for some people and not others. Are you just somebody for whom that stay-at-home mom job is the right choice?
Finally, the Chicago Sun-Times’ author Jim DeRogatis fell down on the job where the who vs. whom rule is concerned and this quote slipped by the editor.
Source information:
.
Date
1994 (19940213)
Publication information
SHOW; Pg. 1; NC
Title
The Next Prime Cut, Chicago^s Red Red Meat;
Author
BY JIM DeROGATIS
Source
Chicago Sun-Times
Expanded context:
“We were playing a show in Richmond, Va., to about five people, “recalls guitarist Glenn Girard.” We had cleared the room of all the skate-punks who there to see the two hard-core bands before us.
Table 1: Who appears in the COCA:
SECTION
ALL
SPOKEN
FICTION
MAGAZINE
NEWSPAPER
ACADEMIC
1990-1994
1995-1999
2000-2004
2005-2009
2010-2012
FREQ
14713
5620
1941
2540
2722
1890
2932
3222
3450 …show more content…
whom rule is alive and well and due to many conflicts as to how who/whom ought to be used in spoken English, we’re not following the rule provided. We are not using it correctly and we have defaulted to simply use who rather than trying to learn when whom is more appropriate. We also should consider that some people consider whom to be a rather pretentious and snobbish term. On the other hand, it seems as though whom is strictly becoming academic vocabulary and is only considered in academic papers and