Baheej
which is correct who are you talking to ? or whom are you talking to ? or to whom you are talking ? can i say whom are you talking to or to whom you are talking instead of who are you talking to ? is that correct ?
Aug 10, 2014 11:24 AM
Answers · 2
1
This is a question of level of language. In formal English, the correct question is "Whom are you talking to?" or in very formal English, some die-hard grammarians still insist on not placing the preposition at the end of the sentence, so "To whom are you talking?" (Placing the preposition at the end is called "preposition stranding" and all Germanic languages do this.) However, almost everyone *says* "Who are you talking to?" and it is by far the most common way of asking that question. Therefore, my advice would be to stick with "Who are you talking to?" unless you're in a very formal situation (on stage, speaking to a large group of people, before a judge in a courtroom, etc.). When writing, you can possibly use "whom" a bit more, even though in modern day English, it has largely fallen out of favor. I teach ESL in school (English as a second language) and tell my students not to bother with "whom", just use "who". For those students that are interested, I explain the difference -- "who" is used to ask about (or to refer to as a relative pronoun) the subject of the sentence: "The man sees the girl. Who sees the girl?" While "whom" is used to ask about (or to refer to as a relative pronoun) the object of the sentence. "The man sees the girl. Whom does the man see?" So if you're going to use "whom", just make sure you use it correctly! :-)
August 10, 2014
1
"To whom are you talking" is the "correct" form according to prescriptive grammar. However, very few people actually say that. Instead, most people say "who are you talking to" in colloquial language.
August 10, 2014
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