First of all: If you can avoid using whom, you should. Any but the most formal texts are better off without it; it’s a foreign word for most users, as evidenced by the general inability of even many language professionals to use it quite correctly all the time.
Sometimes, however, you have to use it. The text demands it. When you do, you may be faced with a choice between two voices in your head — the one who says what you would say without thinking too hard about it, and the one who says what you would say if you did think too hard about it. Whom do you believe? More to the point, who do you believe is right?
As a general rule, believe the first voice. That’s the one that won’t tell you to use “Whom do you believe is right?”
Is that whom wrong? You bet it is. It’s also an error many people make. Here’s what’s wrong and how to avoid it — and similar misadventures.
The key is this: Always look for a subject for every conjugated verb.
We know (I hope) that whom is for the object and who is for the subject (and, if you don’t use whom, who is for the object, too). We also know that when we ask a question or make a relative clause, either the subject or object of the verb is at the start of the clause.
In each of the following examples, all subjects are in small caps, all conjugated verbs are underlined and all objects are in bold:
She is right.
Who is right?
She tickled him.
Whom did she tickle?
A woman knows her grammar.
She’s a woman who knows her grammar.
She tickles him.
He’s a man whom she tickles.
Not all verbs have objects, but they all have subjects. In some sentences, two verbs can have a single subject — “He baked a cake and iced it nicely.” But unless the verb is an imperative, there has to be an explicit subject. And if that subject is the interrogative or relative pronoun, it has to be who, not whom. So:
Who do you believe is right?
In this example, who is the subject of is. And you is the subject of do (which is the auxiliary for the infinitive believe). If you make who into whom, you don’t have a subject for is.
This type of construction throws people off because they see “do you believe” and think, well, it has to have an object. “Whom do you believe” is correct, after all.
But when it’s “…believe is right,” it’s not the same. You say “I believe him” but not “I believe him is right” because the clause “he is right” is the object of believe, and within it, he is the subject of is. We get tripped up because the subject and object rise to the same position (I’ve added brackets to separate the clauses):
I believe [she tickled him].
[Who] do I believe [tickled him]?
[Whom] do I believe [she tickled]?
The key, as I said, is to make sure you have a subject for every verb. Or avoid using whom altogether. And when you are faced with those voices, ask yourself: Whom do you believe? And [who] do you believe [is right]?
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