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In the acknowledgments of my thesis, after a long list of names, I (also) want to thank

"[...] all other supportive people whom I have inevitably left out".

Does this look appropriate? In particular, I'm concerned about the usage of "whom" vs. "who". I tried to google the phrase "who(m) I have left out", but both versions yield millions of hits. [about 10:1 who vs. whom].

Note that I'm no native speaker, but write English by feeling.

herisson
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Martin
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    If you wish to use whom, this is the correct context to do it (it is the object in the sentence). Personally, I would write whom. Probably the majority of native English speakers would write who in all contexts, though, and you can quite safely do so too. Only prescriptivists would complain about who in your example. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 22 '14 at 11:26

2 Answers2

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Accordimg to oxforddictionaries.com:

The normal practice in current English is to use who in all contexts

You can also circumvent the issue:

"[...] all other supportive people I inevitably have left out".

Twinkles
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Those who can be a subject.

Those who can, should teach.

Those who can also be direct objects or objects of a preposition.

Those whom you saw...

which would explain the existence of both in Google searches.

"In speech and informal writing who tends to predominate over whom...[T]he distinction shows no signs of disappearing in formal style..."

Personally, in an academic paper, I would still use whom where appropriate. (...those whom I have left out.)

If in Doubt:

"Use of whom has all but disappeared from spoken English, and seems to be going the same way in most forms of written English too. If you are not sure, it is much better to use who when whom would traditionally have been required than to use whom incorrectly for who, which will make you look not just wrong but wrong and pompous." (David Marsh, Guardian Style. Guardian Books, 2007)

anongoodnurse
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