Friday, January 18, 2008

And now a word from my mother via email.

Amy, I tried to make a comment on your blog but "google" said I already had an account but I don't know the password. So, now a half hour later, I just wanted to say it's Who may I say is calling? , because "who" is subject of the verb "is" , therefore, nominative case. In the other sentence "whom" is correct because it is object of the preposition "for", therefore, objective case.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moms are just so smart.

hoseloader said...

absolute pure genuis

Anonymous said...

Is your mother an English teacher. That was my worst subject, trying to diagram sentences with all of those freakin' lines coming off the verbs and nouns, etc.

Anonymous said...

It appears your mom is one of my officers in the army I call the English Police. We're not charged with enforcement of language in the U.K, but OF the English language, no matter the country of origin. We're also not enforcing anything having to do with the band, The Police, although they are English. I don't know the names of all my officers, and while that's sad, it's appropriate, especially here in the blogosphere.

Rock on, Mom. Rock on, Amy.

Anonymous said...

Your mother has a future in the Proofing Dept.

Anonymous said...

i can't believe how much that hurt my head.
i still don't get it.
what's wrong with me?

Anonymous said...

Your mom is right.

Try answering the question with either "He" or "Him." If He sounds better, then Who is correct. If the only normal sounding answer is Him, use Whom.

Who shall I say is calling? He is calling (not Him is calling).

To whom did you give the car? I gave it to him (NOT "I gave it to he."

Get it? I guess it is kinda confusing....

Good Job, Mom!