Who/Whom; That/Which
Sorry it's taken me so long to complete this month's installment. I've been nursing back to health someone who just replaced his hip. Poor dear. Worry not, he's on the mend. Did you notice my use of, someone who just...? When to use who or whom are niggling little devils. The rule that I generally use is:
· Who: We grammarians call who a subjective pronoun. That is, a pronoun that is used in place of the sentence's subject. For example: Who drained the last bottle of sacramental wine? In this case who is the subject of the sentence. And, as my faithful readers can by now surmise, the who in question is, of course, Father Flannigan.
· Whom: Whom is an objective pronoun--the verb's object. Check it out: Our sisters, three of whom competed, placed first, second and third, in the All Nun Tae Kwon Do tournament. See how three of whom is actually the object of the verb, placed? Also, what so often follows whom is actually extraneous to the meaning of the sentence.
So many people confuse that and which. The actual grammar rule is to use that with a restrictive clause (one that limits or restricts the subject in some way). Use which in a nonrestrictive clause. Though it doesn't always work, a simpler rule I use is that refers to a person; which refers to a thing. For example:
· Use of that: Sister Marguerite Baptiste, that 5-foot-two, 170 pound bundle of energy, hefted the pulpit all by herself. See how the clause is restrictive in its description of Sister Marguerite?
· Use of which: The pulpit, which weighed almost as much as Sister Marguerite Baptiste, needed to be moved.
Notice how my rule for using that for people and which for things happens to work nicely for these examples. Imagine that.
Meanwhile I'm off to Bev-Mo's 5 cent sale to replenish OLPC's sacramental wine supply. By the way, did you know Sacramental wine, which according to Canon Law 924:3, must be natural wine of the grape and not corrupt. No kidding. It is fermented to an alcohol content of not less than 5% and not more than 18%. Then it's approved by the bishop of the vineyard's diocese (presumably after considerable sampling). In OLPC's case that would be Father Flannigan's old friend, the Most Reverend John Steinbock, Bishop of Fresno.
Until next time, I'm Sister Mary Pat for Writers Resource Group.
