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Which is correct?:

  1. Ask him who you have the potential to become
  2. Ask him whom you have the potential to become

I'm confused over this because "Ask him who you are" and "You are whom?" both seem correct.

I'm leaning towards 2, because the final target of becoming should probably be the object of the verb "to become".

Luke Hutchison
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  • You seem to be asking about a relatively recent usage (in the past 20-40 years). It has not yet appeared in the Cambridge or Collins online dictionaries. It has become popular for people to underline a claim to a right or behaviour by saying that "It is who I am". This can refer to almost anything habitual to a person. This usage appears to be adopted where the common usage would be to say: "Ask him WHAT you have the the potential to become. Nevertheless, there is no reason not use 'who' rather than 'whom' – Tuffy Sep 15 '23 at 21:04
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    Does this answer your question? What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly?. nohat's answer and Professor Lawler's comment give the true story; the accepted answer is reflecting the 1930s' view. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 15 '23 at 21:14
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    The pronoun is complement of "become",which strictly speaking requires the accusative (and rather formal) pronoun "whom". In everyday use, "who" is fine. – BillJ Sep 17 '23 at 11:19

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