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Hippiekinkster -> RE: Intelligence vs writing (1/10/2012 10:29:36 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Casteele
- It's ironic when someone assumes someone whom...
- Quite often, in fact, as I am one of those whom...
- Not necessarily poor writing, however, as I know many intelligent people whom...
"The general opinion on whom is that "it is [already] virtually dead" (Aarts, 2004, p. 71) and will sooner or later disappear as it is just a relic of older times and therefore will die out.
"Nearly half a century ago Edward Sapir predicted the demise of whom, showing at great length that it was doomed because it was 'psychologically isolated' from the objective pronouns me, us, him, her, them on the one hand, and the invariables which, what, that and where, when, how, why on the other." (Potter, 1975², p. 151)
This opinion cannot be proved so far; "prescriptivists even continue to defend this form as the only 'correct' one in functions other than the subject." (Aarts, 2004, p. 71) The only thing which can really be stated is a "fluctuation or even a convergence between the two major regional standards, rather than a directed diachronic change." (Mair, 2006, p. 142) Therefore, whom cannot be denoted as a rare word in the English grammar. Rather it has to be said that whom is often used in interrogative sentences, when it follows a preposition. There are still two totally common ways of expressing something. "To whom did you give it? Who did you give it to?" (Potter, 1975², p. 152) Moreover, in relative clauses whom has to be used when there are "no end preposition alternatives." (Potter, 1975², p. 152) Even though whom is still used and sometimes has to be applied in certain expressions, there is a change in the appropriate use of whom. One has the impression that whom is used a lot more rarely nowadays. It seems there has been a certain movement concerning another part of English linguistics: the difference in use between written and spoken on the one and formal and informal English on the other hand. When comparing the two following examples on interrogative whom following a preposition, can be detected that the first incidence is more formal than the second one in which who is used. "To whom are you speaking?" "Who are you speaking to?" (Brinten & Arnovick, 2006, p. 440) As already mentioned
"whom is moribund as an element of the core grammar of English, but is very much alive as a style marker whose correct use is acquired in the educational system [, where it is taught]. [The use of whom] is highly restricted, but rather than disappear entirely, the form is likely to remain in use for some time to come because of its over prestige in writing." (Mair, 2006, pp. 143, 144)
"Another point to note is that in all these circumstances the decline of interrogative whom is more advanced than the decline of relative whom, which may be related to the issue of the degree of complexity of sentences." (Yoko & Michiko, 2009, p. 189)
Another event which often occurs if who and whom are applied is hypercorrection. That means that certain grammar rules, for instance the use of whom as a referent for the object, spread to other parts of English grammar, although they are not correct but are applied because of the desire to sound correct, educated and more formal. As there are many possible variations in the use of who and whom, confusion arises among speakers "about the use of subject and object forms and hence mistakes due to hypercorrection happen". "Whom do you think you are?" (Brinten & Arnovick, 2006, p. 440) is a perfect incidence of hypercorrection, as whom is used as a subject form and therefore is wrong in that case and should be replaced by a grammatically correct who."
(Wiki)
Perhaps I'm tilting at windmills, but I wouldn't like to see the distinction between the traditional usages of "who" and "whom" disappear.
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