'Voters Will Know Who to Blame': I saw this headline in www.commondreams.com today. I think it should be whom. Is whom now obsolete?
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1"Is whom now obsolete?" - Can something in regular use be obsolete? – nnnnnn Aug 02 '20 at 08:21
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7Does this answer your question? What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly? – DW256 Aug 02 '20 at 08:35
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4"Whom" is certainly grammatical, since it is the object of "blame". But nowadays, thanks to a tendency to generally dumn-down the language, "whom" is seen as being overly formal, with "who" being the choice for most people. Sigh ... – BillJ Aug 02 '20 at 09:13
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You are right: "whom" is right. The reason is that "whom" is the object of the verb "blame".
Rosie F
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1But English is usage-driven 'Rules' change. There have been lists of 'rules' that people have sought to impose that have always had exceptions, or where strict (to virtually any) adherence has dropped away over time, meaning the 'rules' have changed. "It is I" is considered at best eccentric in conversation. 'will know who to blame' outperforms 'will know whom to blame' 2:1 in a Google 5gram search. 'Who' is taking over the objective role in addition to its subjective one. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 30 '20 at 15:07
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"Whom" is becoming rare in spoken English. In written English it persists in more formal registers, although even then it is less universally used.
Lexico (a website of Oxford Dictionaries) discusses the rules for when to use "whom" then says "In practice, most people never use whom like this in speech because it sounds extremely formal. They don't use whom at all, and instead use who in all contexts". In the sentence "The man whom/who you met yesterday is coming to dinner" while the rule suggests "whom" Lexico says "most people would say or write" the word "who" or "that" instead. It continues "However, if you are writing at work, at college or university, or for publication, it is acceptable and even advisable to use the more formal whom, especially in constructions with a preposition."
The style guide of the Guardian newspaper explains the traditional difference in usage then says "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'".
As to the example given, "voters will know who to blame", it's written not spoken, but it's not the most formal context. Strict grammatical rules do not apply to headlines, which have their own peculiar grammar that bears little resemblance to conventional English.
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1You're right, Stuart, but all this has been said before. I don't know why the 'close as duplicate' function seems to have been overridden. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 29 '21 at 15:36