We have just interviewed an applicant (who/whom) the committee believes is best qualified for the position.
,
Which one is correct?

Thanks in advance.

Question

We have just interviewed an applicant (who/whom) the committee believes is best qualified for the position.
,
Which one is correct?

Thanks in advance.

Answer

Many English speakers, perhaps most of them, use "who" all the time, never "whom". So the easiest answer is, outside of formal situations, just use "who".

But if you want to know when to use "who" and when to use "whom", remember that if the question can be answered with "he" or "she", then it's "who". If it can be answered with "him" or "her", then it's "whom."

This case it difficult, because the sentence contains three clauses: "We have just interviewed an applicant," "the committee believes," and "is best qualified". The difficulty is that the who/whom could go at the end of the second clause: "The committee believes the applicant" in which case it's "him/her" so "whom". But it could also go at the beginning of the third clause: "The applicant is best qualified for the position." So "he/she" and "who".

Putting it as the subject of the third clause makes more sense than putting it as the object, because the committee doesn't believe the applicant. They believe the fact that the applicant (he or she) is the best candidate.

So I would treat the second clause as parenthetical because we could eliminate it from the sentence and still have the sentence make sense. "We have just interviewed an applicant who (the committee believes) is best qualified for the position.

So because of all that, I believe "who" is the correct answer. But you see how hard I had to think about it, and that's why most people gave up using "whom".

Answer

who

Answer

We have just interviewed an applicant whom the committee believes is best qualified for the position.

(Whom has to take a preposition)

To whom it may concern,

Answer

Whom the committee is the correct one

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