Comments on: Compassion in the workplace

By: Short Round

Short Round — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:28:13 +0000

“Whomever” is definitely, definitely wrong. Yes, it begins with to; however, the object of the preposition is not the pronoun “whomever” but rather the entire phrase “whomever is coughing,” and “whomever” is the SUBJECT of that phrase. There is no ambiguity here: the word should be “whoever.” This is a very common error. Don’t feel bad if you make it, but don’t embarrass yourself by insisting that it’s right.

(In the case of “To whom it may concern,” the object of the proposition is “whom it may concern,” the subject there being “it,” with “whom” being the object of the verb “concern.”)

Hi, I’m a former English teacher.

By: Canthz_B

Canthz_B — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:10:34 +0000

Nice trick, unless the answerer responds “Sharon. She went to the store with him.”

Side note: I don’t know crap about proper grammar, so please don’t bother taking a joke very seriously.

By: Kate the Great

Kate the Great — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:08:28 +0000

No, because it concerns HIM or HER not HE or SHE.

By: Zpack

Zpack — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:26:14 +0000

By the logic in this thread, we should be saying “to who it may concern..”

By: Kate the Great

Kate the Great — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:24:20 +0000

Who went to the store?

HE went to the store.

With WHOM did he go to the store?

He went to the store with HER.

If the answer to the question is “he,” “she,” “we,” or “they,” it’s “who.”

If it’s “her/him/us/them” it’s “whom.”

QUICK TIP: If it ends with a consonant, it’s “whom.” If it ends with a vowel, it’s “who.” Am I the only one who’s ever thought of this trick?

By: analogeyser

analogeyser — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:54:36 +0000

Reminds me of Andy Kaufman doing Old McDonald had a Ferm(i)
on Sat. Night Live back in the day

He had his ups and downs, he was charmed and strange…don’t know if he was a top or not though

By: Brick

Brick — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:21:33 +0000

Actually it can sing too…from its diaphragm.

By: NoExit

NoExit — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:37:07 +0000

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

By: MAMARILLA2

MAMARILLA2 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:16:34 +0000

Is stupid catching, because if it is I want to make those people stay home most of all.

By: Maas

Maas — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:08:37 +0000

“To those with cancer:
Please stay home, the rest of us don’t want to catch it.
Try to think of other people from time to time.”

By: Madcap

Madcap — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:34:26 +0000

It’s PA because the note writer could have walked over to the cougher and told him or her to his or her face what the problem was. The note-writing is just cowardly behavior. If I were the cougher, I’d make sure to start hacking louder and with more phlegm until the culprit revealed him or herself through loud sighs, tsking noises and the slamming of fists on countertops.

By: MAMARILLA2

MAMARILLA2 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:50:35 +0000

Inconceivable!

By: Phalange

Phalange — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:39:24 +0000

Would you people quit quoting “The Princess Bride” and get back to doing important things like debating whoever vs. whomever and whether or not coughing is an effective indictor of sickness?

P.S.

“Truly you have a dizzying intellect.”
“Wait till I get started!”

By: MAMARILLA2

MAMARILLA2 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:38:34 +0000

My Karma just ran over your Dogma.