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Who or whom in this sentence?

5 replies

AlpacaMyBag · 12/03/2015 11:53

Wait and see who it appeals to?
Wait and see whom it appeals to?

It's not a very formal text.

Yes I realise that it would be correct to say "Wait and see to whom it appeals", but as I say it's not a very formal text. So we're not doing that.

OP posts:

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TywysogesGymraeg · 12/03/2015 11:57

If it's not a formal text, and you don't want to get it 100% correct, why do you need it to be 50% correct?

"To whom it appeals" is correct. Anything else is wrong, so it doesn't matter which you use.

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DontDrinkandFacebook · 12/03/2015 12:00

If you don't want to say 'wait and see to whom it appeals' then use the first example, with who.

'Wait and see whom it appeals to' is wrong, and it sounds wrong, whereas 'wait and see who it appeals to' is, admittedly, technically wrong but common usage makes it sound right to most people's ears.

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worldgonecrazy · 12/03/2015 12:01

Whom.

A quick tip I learned was that if the answer was "me" or "him" or "her", in this case "It appeals to me/him/her", then you use "whom".

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prism · 12/03/2015 12:18

"Wait and see who finds it appealing"?

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SconeRhymesWithGone · 13/03/2015 18:23

Whom. It would be grammatically correct then, but clunky and inelegant, as well as offending people who think (erroneously) that you can't end an English sentence with a preposition. I'd go with prism's suggestion.

Or wait a few years. The who/whom distinction will be gone the way of thee and thou.