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I'm having a discussion with somebody online about a 911 dispatch call, the dispatcher uses the phrase, "Who did you shoot?" This seems like a perfectly normal phrase to me, and grammatically correct at that. They are asserting the phrase is not grammatically correct and due to that is causing confusion. They believe the phrase should be, "Whom did you shoot?"

I had never thought too much about the distinction, but after looking into the difference I can see why you might use "whom" here. "Whom" is replacing the object of the shooting in this case, if I understand correctly. At the same time, I've plugged both phrases into grammar analysis tools and neither gets marked as incorrect. The former phrase sounds more natural to me, probably because you just don't see "whom" used very often.

I've come here to settle the discussion, which phrase is actually grammatically correct, or are they both, why?

Cory Harper
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  • A century ago, people were as likely to use *whom* as *who* in your cited context (and most "grammarians" of the time would insist on that). But few people bother with *whom* today (except in a few contexts where it's preceded by a preposition, such as *To whom am I speaking?* on the telephone). – FumbleFingers Jul 31 '23 at 17:39
  • You can drop the commas before the quotes nowadays, too. 'Rules' change, but it's a gradual process as usage is the only real arbiter, and there are always bunfights between the more ardent prescriptivists and descriptivists. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 31 '23 at 18:01
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    @EdwinAshworth Quite right. I commented too hastily. My apologies. – BillJ Aug 01 '23 at 16:44
  • Personally, I lament the passing of accusative "whom". I don't understand why some people seek to dumb down the language and then blame it on descriptivism. – BillJ Aug 01 '23 at 17:32

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