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Would it be correct to use "who" or "whom" in the following sentence?

Industrialization in the USSR did not provide a better life for many soviets, especially the peasants, who(m) Stalin claimed would benefit most from a communist nation.

I believe it would be "who" because it is the subject of "would benefit," but I'm still a little bit confused. I also tried to use the heuristic where you replace "who" or "whom" with either "he" or "him," and I believe it would be "...Stalin claimed he would benefit most..."

Thanks for your help!

Note: I know that there are many “who vs. whom” questions already on this site, but I believe that mine is distinct because there are multiple verbs. I have searched for similar questions before, but I couldn’t find them (maybe I just didn’t search well enough). I think that calling this question a duplicate (unless there is another question very similar to mine) would make it harder for people like me to find an answer to their question. Thanks!

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    Does this answer your question? What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly? – Mari-Lou A Jul 26 '20 at 07:34
  • @KannE Perfect answer! Thank you for your help. Quick question: do you know how to mark my original question as answered (or do I just leave it alone)? –  Jul 26 '20 at 07:36
  • Unfortunately for a number of weeks the list of related questions which always accompanied posts whose questions were focused on a popular theme, in this case who vs whom, is missing. – Mari-Lou A Jul 26 '20 at 07:36
  • @Mari-LouA I had already read that page, but thanks for your help. I know the fundamentals about who vs whom, but sometimes get caught up in more complex sentences. Thanks! –  Jul 26 '20 at 07:38
  • If you don't mention in your question what research you did, how will users know if you understand the basic rule? – Mari-Lou A Jul 26 '20 at 07:40
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    @Mari-LouA I'm sorry, I'll be sure to include that next time. This was my first post, so thanks for letting me know that I should include that information. –  Jul 26 '20 at 07:44
  • @John You are right. The pronoun is not object of "claimed" but subject of "would benefit", so nominative "who" is correct. – BillJ Jul 26 '20 at 08:07
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    @John You mark your question as answered by clicking the tick next to the answer which answered it. Comments aren't answers. See the first part of the Tour. – Andrew Leach Jul 27 '20 at 07:05
  • @AndrewLeach Thank you! I was confused because I didn't have any answers at the time (only comments). –  Jul 27 '20 at 07:31

2 Answers2

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Industrialization in the USSR did not provide a better life for many soviets, especially the peasants, who(m) Stalin claimed [___ would benefit most from a communist nation].

The pronoun is not object of "claimed" but subject of the embedded "would benefit" clause (bracketed), so subjective "who" (not objective "whom") is correct.

We understand that many soviets, especially the peasants would benefit most from a communist nation.

BillJ
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By parsing the sentence, we can figure out whether we should use “who” (subjective) or “whom” (objective).

...especially the peasants, who(m) Stalin claimed would benefit most from a communist nation.

Stalin isn’t claiming “who(m).” Instead, “who(m)” is the subject of “would,” so “who” is the correct pronoun.

  • Thank you for your answer. It was helpful, but my question has already been answered. –  Aug 03 '20 at 04:56