It has been a recurring topic on this blog, but whom definitely seems to be on the way out. I’m in the middle of reading a pile of third-year essays, and have already come across two instances of hypercorrect whom this morning (and it is still fairly early):
- as to whom these clerks were
- whom had some dresses made for his daughters
The students, who are both non-native speakers of English, may have felt that whom fitted the style of academic essays better than who. But their hypercorrect usage may also be due to the fact that the use of whom is not really taught in Dutch secondary schools any more. Is the hypercorrect use of whom typical of Dutch speakers only? Alison Edwards, what do you think?
Source: Pen to Paper Communications
Bridging the Unbridgeable 
From this week’s Marketing magazine (Haymarket publishing)
Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank, dropped the name of his “good mate” Alistair Darling, whom he said told him that the Labour Party “lost it in 2005 but just didn’t know it then”