{"id":776,"date":"2013-03-31T08:57:35","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T19:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=776"},"modified":"2013-03-31T16:35:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-31T03:35:00","slug":"whom-is-fading-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"Whom is fading away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"whom\"<\/a>Although I was once a pretty decent tennis player, I have always thought that the game suffers from being too simple. I have similar feelings about golf.\u00a0 Whack, whack, whack, from the tee to the hole, and then on to next tee and do it all over again.\u00a0 No, if I\u2019m going to spend a serious chunk of time taking part in or watching a contest, I prefer a sport with a bit more complexity.<\/p>\n

Rugby Union is a pretty good candidate.\u00a0 At its highest level it has become so complex that even the \u2018expert\u2019 commentators are frequently at a loss to explain what is happening and why.<\/p>\n

And then there is cricket.\u00a0 For a lover of complexity, test cricket, a game which, weather permitting, is usually played for 30 hours over five days and offers no fewer that twelve different ways for a batsman to be adjudged \u2018out\u2019, is pure delight.<\/p>\n

But my love of complexity and (some would say) arcane rules does not extend to grammar.\u00a0 When it comes to grammar \u2013 English grammar anyway \u2013 I believe that simple is best.<\/p>\n

Recently, a friend and I clashed over the use \u2013 and misuse \u2013 of \u2018whom\u2019.\u00a0 My friend considered the proper use of whom to be one of the hallmarks of a careful writer.\u00a0 \u2018It\u2019s really quite simple,\u2019 he said.\u00a0 \u2018Who is subjective and whom is objective.\u00a0 Or who is nominative and whom is accusative.\u2019<\/p>\n

Technically, he is right.\u00a0 But the \u2018correct\u2019 use is not at all simple.\u00a0 Even Fowler\u2019s Modern English Usage, which normally takes a few lines to explain each entry, finds it necessary to devote two whole pages to the use of who and whom.<\/p>\n

These days, most of the better writers I know seem to use whom only after a preposition (of whom, with whom, by whom) and sometimes not even then.\u00a0 Otherwise they tend to use who.\u00a0 Indeed, the technically correct use of whom can often make writing seem stilted and pompous.\u00a0 \u2018Whom do you wish to speak to, my good man?\u2019<\/p>\n

My bet is that the trend towards simplicity will continue and, within 50 or 60 years, whom \u2013 like hath and ye \u2013 will have become a quaint historical footnote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although I was once a pretty decent tennis player, I have always thought that the game suffers from being too simple. I have similar feelings about golf.\u00a0 Whack, whack, whack, from the tee to the hole, and then on to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}