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Inevitably (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/flippanarchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] 6 points 1 year ago (8 children)

fyi: “whom" is the correct word to use in two of the three instances.

here’s a tip: if the answer to the question is him, her, or them (as opposed to he, she, or they), then whom is to be used in the question.

there’s nothing pretentious about correctness. it’s about the nominative case vs the accusative case.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Language is descriptive, not prescriptive. The "correct" way to speak is the way that is understood.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Spent my youth being whipped in school over correctness. Picked up my first Stephen King book, Pet Sematary, at 14 and was like, "The hell?! He's not following the rules but this prose rocks out!"

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Yeah, it is absolutely pretentious. The correction isn't about clarity, but the superiority of someone who "knows better" than others, those dummies.

    Also, no, it's one. The answer to "Who is next?" is not "Me is next" or "Him is next" but "I am next" or "He is next". This is related to something called a predicate nominative. Read up at https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/predicate_nominative.htm

    So if you're going to be pretentious about grammar, you'd best bring your A game so you don't end up hoisting yourself with your own petard. Or just act like a grammar anarchist and not a grammar authoritarian.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    the question is not “who is next?”, but it’s “who(m) are we going after next?”

    the “who(m)” is not the subject of the sentence here. it’s the object. the subject is the “we”. so “whom” applies here.

    if the question were indeed “who is next?” (as you have misread it), then your point would be valid. but your entire argument stems from an incorrect premise.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    No, I didn't misread it. It's literally in the comic right up there. There's one "Who are we going after next." That's the one that whom is correct for. Then there's "Who's next?" which whom is incorrect for. Who is. Grammar doesn't care about the sentence before. Did you even read the link about predicate nominatives? It explains why. Go read it.

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