究竟 「whom」是甚麼一回事？

 

我最經常收到學生和讀者的其中一個提問，就是如何區分「who」和「whom」。

要回答這問題，我們可以從兩個層面切入。

第一個層面，當然是看它們字形上的分別。

第二個層面，是大家要明白，它們的分別在現代英語中其實已不再很重要。因為「whom」這字形正在慢慢被淘汰，以至將來應可能完全消失。

首先，如果你懂得使用我們基礎課程中所教授的工具和概念來分析英文文法結構，你很容易便能將兩個字形區分。

「Who/whom」是英文文法中的代名詞（pronouns）。作為代名詞，它們都可以成為問題字、引出名詞子句的代名詞、或關係子句中的關係代名詞。

例如：

Who are you? Whom did you see?

(「who」和 「whom」 作為問題字）

I know [ who stole my wallet. ]

I know [ whom he loves. ]

(「who」和 「whom」 作為引出名詞子句的代名詞）

The woman [ who lives here ] is nice.

The woman [ whom I love ] is nice. 

(「who」和 「whom」 作為關係子句中的關係代名詞）

兩個字形的分別在於，「who」是「主語」的字形，而「whom」本是「whom」的「非主語」的字形。也就是說，在一個詞組或子句中，如果這代名詞是扮演主語的角色，它便會以「who」的字形出現；如果它是扮演主語以外的其他角色，便會以「whom」的字形出現。

例如：

The woman [ who lives here ]… 

在關係子句 [ who lives here ]中，「who」代表的「the woman」是主語。它是限定動詞「lives」的主語，所以這裡用的是「who」。

對比：

The woman [ whom I love ]…

在關係子句 [ whom I love ]中，「whom」代表的是「I love」的賓語。因為不是主語，這裡便用了「whom」。

再舉一個「whom」的例子：

The woman [ with whom I live ]… / The woman [ whom I live with ]…

在關係子句 [ with whom I live / whom I live with] 中，「whom」是與介詞「with」組成介詞組的名詞。由於它也不是主語，因此用了「whom」的字形。

這便是這兩個字形在以往英文文法中本應的角色。

它們是同一個代名詞的分別「主語」和「非主語」字形。

但我剛才也說了，你們無需太在意「whom」這個字形，因為它已在逐漸消失中。

事實上，許多（若非大多數）英文母語人士都罕有使用到「whom」的字形，而是不管主語與否，都只會用「who」。

許多（若非大多數）英文母語人士甚至認為，像「the woman whom I love」和「the woman whom I live with/with whom I live」這種說法，並沒有「the woman who I love」和「the woman who I live with」來得自然。

有些人認為像「whom」這種字形應盡量被保留，因為它代表了「標準」語言。但在現代英文中，「whom」的逐漸消失是明顯可見的。就語言學的角度而言，這情況並沒有好壞之分。

「whom」重要性的喪失，其實與現代英文中的其他名詞狀況相符。

除了代名詞，英文中的所有名詞均沒有分別的主語和賓詞字形。 我們會根據名詞的位置，判斷它在句子中所扮演的角色：

My mom loves my dad. 

My dad loves my mom. 

以上句子中，「my mom」和「my dad」的角色是靠他們的所在位置呈現，而非透過字形。

正如第一句中，「my mom」是主語，「my dad」是賓語，因為「my mom」出現在動詞的前面。 而第二句則剛好相反，因為「my dad」是出現在動詞前面的主語。不論是句中甚麼角色，「my mom」和「my dad」都是一樣字形的。

當然，英文代名詞（非全部）仍然保留著不同的主語/賓語字形 — 「I / me」、「he / him」、「she / her」、「we / us」、「they / them」。

然而在當今的使用上，在某些情況也可以觀察到這些字形差異的重要性持續減弱。

就如以下母語人士會說/寫的句子，在現代英文中其實已經是自然的（雖然在不同情況還會被視為「不標準」）：

Me and my mom went shopping.

(vs. I)

Let’s keep this between you and I.

(vs. me)

因為有特定詞序，「me」和「I」在這兩句中所扮演的角色是不會被混淆的。

所以，雖然本來應該是「My mom and I went…」和「...between you and me」，但在這些有另一個名詞跟「I / me」一起的情況，可以觀察到有這種字形統一的趨勢。

這其實並沒有「對或錯」的，只是語言的自然演變而已。

當然，在很多情況，關於以上說的演變，還是有人為的標準要跟隨的，因為人為的用法標準很多時是追不上真實的文法演變的。

例如，大家考試時，盡量都是繼續小心地用「my mom and I went shopping」而非「me and my mom went」，及「between you and me」而非「between you and I」，避免被看成是「錯」。

但同時，一定也要理解這演變，因為就算是在考試中避免被看成是「錯」而說「whom did you see？」，用「對」的字形「whom」，在真實用法中，這比起「who did you see？」是更不自然的。所以，在真實用法中，就最好不要講「whom did you see?」了。

從今天起，只要理解了「whom」是甚麼，就可以自己看不同的情況和例子，衡量用不用。

_______________
(English version) 

Students and subscribers alike often ask me about the difference between the words “who” and “whom.”

There are two layers to answering this question.

The first layer of course is the difference between these forms.

The second layer is that, actually, their difference does not really matter in modern English usage because the form “whom” is slowly disappearing altogether.

First, if you know how to analyze English grammatical structure with the tools and concepts from our foundational course, you can differentiate between these two forms easily.

“Who/whom” are pronouns in English grammar. As pronouns, they can act as question words, pronouns introducing noun clauses, or relative pronouns in relative clauses.

For example: 

Who are you?

Whom did you see?

(“who” and “whom as question words)

I know [ who stole my wallet. ]

I know [ whom he loves. ]

(“who” and “whom” as pronouns starting a noun clause)

The woman [ who lives here ] is nice.

The woman [ whom I love ] is nice. 

(“who” and “whom” as relative pronouns in relative clauses) 

Now, the difference between these two forms is that “who” is historically the “subject” form, and “whom” is historically the “object” form, which means that, when this pronoun is playing the role of the subject in its position within the phrase or clause, it appears as “who,” and if it plays any role other than the subject, it appears as the form “whom.”

For example: 

The woman [ who lives here ]… 

In the relative clause [ who lives here ], “who,” which represents “the woman,” is the subject. It is the subject of the finite verb “lives,” so it has the “who” form.

Now, contrast:

The woman [ whom I love ]… 

In the relative clause [ whom I love ], the same pronoun is the object of “I love.” Since it is not the subject here, it appears in the “whom” form.

One more example of “whom”:

The woman [ with whom I live ]… / The woman [ whom I live with ]…

In the relative clause [ with whom I live / whom I live with ], the pronoun “whom” is the noun forming a prepositional phrase together with the preposition “with.” It is not the subject here, so it also appears in the “whom” form.

This is the difference between these two forms historically. 

They are respectively the “subject” and “non-subject” forms of the same pronoun. 

However, I mentioned that you don’t need to worry too much about the form “whom” because it is slowly disappearing. 

Actually, many (if not most) English native speakers rarely use the form “whom.” Instead, the form “who” is used whether it is playing the role of a subject or not.

In fact, many (if not most) English native speakers would find something like “the woman whom I love” and “the woman whom I live with” to be less natural in actual usage than “the woman who I love” and “the woman who I live with.”

Even though some people would think that a form like “whom” should be artificially kept in use because it represents so-called “standard” language, this gradual loss of the form “whom” is a natural and observable change in current English that is, from the Linguistics point of view, neither “good” nor “bad.” 

The loss of importance for the “whom” form is consistent with how other nouns are in modern English. 

All nouns in English, apart from pronouns, have no separate subject and object forms. We tell whether a noun is playing the subject or another role in a sentence by its position: 

My mom loves my dad. 

My dad loves my mom. 

In these sentences, the roles of “my mom” and “my dad” are indicated by their positions and not by their forms.

As in, in the first sentence, “my mom” is the subject and “my dad” is the object because “my mom” comes first, before the verb. In the second sentence, it is the reverse because “my dad” is the subject in front of the verb.

It is true that English pronouns (not even all) still retain the different subject/object forms — “I / me,” “he / him, “she / her,” “we / us,” “they them.” 

However, even the importance of these form differences are slowly being eroded in current usage. 

We can tell because, for example, a sentence like this is acceptable and natural in current English: 

Me and my mom went shopping.

(vs. I and my mom went shopping.)

Because of its position in the sentence, there is no mistaking what role “me” is playing. As such, it is now natural even though it should be in the “I” form as the subject.

Again, this is natural language change and not “bad” language.

So don’t worry too much about the form “whom” from now on! You don’t really need it!