Which of the two sentences is correct?
Everybody who we need or Everybody whom we need
Please explain the grammatical reason behind it.
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2Why do you assume (a) that one of them is correct? and (b) that only one of them is correct? and (c) that there are only two possibilities? – John Lawler Aug 26 '14 at 18:12
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The two sentences are both correct. But I suspect that's not what OP is really asking about. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 26 '14 at 18:37
1 Answers
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First, as presented, neither is a sentence, and without the completed sentence it is impossible to know which, if either, is the correct answer.
Depending, of course, on the rest of the sentence, I'm inclined to propose that a better option than either of the choices presented is to delete the who/whom, and simply write "Everyone we need..."
brasshat
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2No, under the traditional English grammar rules, which I think are still the most generally acceptable, the question has all the relevant information. The case of a relative pronoun is determined only by its function in the relative clause. Since the relative clause is "who[m] we need", not "who needs us", the objective case is required, not the nominative case. The objective case was once whom, but nowadays it is always fully acceptable to replace it by who. (Exception: fixed idioms such as "to whom it may concern".) So who is always correct, and in this case whom is also correct. – Aug 26 '14 at 20:27
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Some English speakers have broken with tradition and select the case of who[m] according to its function in the main clause. These speakers can't tell without additional information whether whom is allowed in this sentence. (Ironically some of these progressive speakers even subscribe to the conservative idea that whom may never be replaced by who.) But these speakers are still in a minority, and in any case such a new development doesn't immediately invalidate what has been correct for centuries. – Aug 26 '14 at 20:32