English Major/Grammar Nazi, WTF is wrong with this sentence?

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sdifox

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Native American who shot four dead while her tribe was trying to evict her was a notorious bully who everybody hated.
 

KB

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Nov 8, 1999
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I think it should be (IANAEM): A Native American, who was a notorious bully and everybody hated, shot four dead while her tribe was trying to evict her.
 

Perknose

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The original headline is wretchedly overlong. But that's not important now. To Obergruppengrammarfurher Perknose, it's the critical "who" vs. "whom" distinction that commands his steely-eyed gaze:

Native American who shot four dead while her tribe was trying to evict her was a notorious bully who everybody hated.

"Who" is used for the subject, "whom" for the object. The bolded use of "who" above should be "whom." "Everybody hated me" vs. "everybody hated I." ;)


I think it should be (IANAEM): A Native American, who was a notorious bully and everybody hated, shot four dead while her tribe was trying to evict her.

"And" should link parallel phrases. It does not above. One grammatically correct substitute would be, "who was a notorious bully whom everybody hated."

Think of it this way, "She was a notorious bully. Everybody hated her."

That said, modern American usage is tending towards using "who" in all instances, forsaking "whom" entirely. Succeeding generations will be mystified and perplexed by the title of Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." :cool:
 
Nov 29, 2006
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The original headline is wretchedly overlong. But that's not important now. To Obergruppengrammarfurher Perknose, it's the critical "who" vs. "whom" distinction that commands his steely-eyed gaze:



"Who" is used for the subject, "whom" for the object. The bolded use of "who" above should be "whom." "Everybody hated me" vs. "everybody hated I." ;)




"And" should link parallel phrases. It does not above. One grammatically correct substitute would be, "who was a notorious bully whom everybody hated."

Think of it this way, "She was a notorious bully. Everybody hated her."

That said, modern American usage is tending towards using "who" in all instances, forsaking "whom" entirely. Succeeding generations will be mystified and perplexed by the title of Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." :cool:

I did Nazi that coming. ;)
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,949
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The original headline is wretchedly overlong. But that's not important now. To Obergruppengrammarfurher Perknose, it's the critical "who" vs. "whom" distinction that commands his steely-eyed gaze:



"Who" is used for the subject, "whom" for the object. The bolded use of "who" above should be "whom." "Everybody hated me" vs. "everybody hated I." ;)




"And" should link parallel phrases. It does not above. One grammatically correct substitute would be, "who was a notorious bully whom everybody hated."

Think of it this way, "She was a notorious bully. Everybody hated her."

That said, modern American usage is tending towards using "who" in all instances, forsaking "whom" entirely. Succeeding generations will be mystified and perplexed by the title of Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." :cool:

whom is not used a lot these days.
 

Gibsons

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Aug 14, 2001
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That said, modern American usage is tending towards using "who" in all instances, forsaking "whom" entirely. Succeeding generations will be mystified and perplexed by the title of Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." :cool:

They'll pronounce it "wh ah m."
 

Perknose

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That said, modern American usage is tending towards using "who" in all instances, forsaking "whom" entirely. Succeeding generations will be mystified and perplexed by the title of Hemingway's famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." :cool:
whom is not used a lot these days.

Apparently not reading the post you are responding to is a major thing these days too. ;) :D
 

allisolm

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Jan 2, 2001
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I'd eliminate the entire who/whom thing by saying

Native American who shot four dead as her tribe tried to evict her was a notorious bully hated by EVERYONE.
 
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