Who/Whom question - grammar nits only please

[maryfield48]

My wife, who teaches prep school (grade school, I guess, to you Yanks), came across a set of who/whom questions on a web site for teachers. This is one of them:

"(Who/Whom) did you say was calling?"

The site gives Whom as the answer. Neither she nor I can figure this out - both of us, along with everyone else she has asked, think it should be Who. Are we missing something or is the web site?

[fmxda]

Website is wrong.

[Go_Blue88]

i remember learning in like 7th grade that the trick is to replace "Who" with "He" and "Whom" with "Him."

in this instance it seems like it'd be something like "Did you say HE called?" or "He called?"

So I guess it ought to be "Who."

[crosse91]

I believe its whom b/c you said is the subject/verb part of the sentence and whom therefore is in the clause part (I forget all the fancy names for this)

The article in question here is in the objective tense? tone? therefore, it is whom.

[amplify]

This sentence is messed up, that's why it's confusing.

Who is always the subject, whom always the object.

Whom did you say was calling? = You said whom was calling?

In this case, You is the subject, the caller is the object, hence whom.

[Claunchy]

[ QUOTE ]
This sentence is messed up, that's why it's confusing.

Who is always the subject, whom always the object.

Whom did you say was calling? = You said whom was calling?

In this case, You is the subject, the caller is the object, hence whom.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is entirely wrong. Who(m) is not the object in that sentence; it's the subject of its clause.

Just insert a "that" after said and it makes more sense.

[kleinstadt1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This sentence is messed up, that's why it's confusing.

Who is always the subject, whom always the object.

Whom did you say was calling? = You said whom was calling?

In this case, You is the subject, the caller is the object, hence whom.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is entirely wrong. Who(m) is not the object in that sentence; it's the subject of its clause.

Just insert a "that" after said and it makes more sense.

[/ QUOTE ]

And the clause is the object of the verb. I knew I was confused for a reason.

So the correct answer is who?

I bow to you, King Grammar Nit.

[Brainwalter]

[ QUOTE ]
Whom did you say was calling? = You said whom was calling?

In this case, You is the subject, the caller is the object, hence whom.

[/ QUOTE ]

"You said whom was calling" makes as much sense as "You said him was calling." "Him" is an object, but "he" should be used as it is the subject of the clause "he was calling". The answer to OP is of course "who".

[SoloAJ]

I'm getting my Bachelor's in English at the end of this year and I am confused as to what the answer is.

My problem with Amp's explanation is that by changing the sentence...you're changing the sentence. So you can't necessarily just switch around word order and still have the same meaning.

There is no independent clause within the sentence anywhere...which leads me to believe that "who" is the correct answer.

But if there is one thing I learned as an English major, the correct answer is "look it up in a reliable resource."
"“Whom” is very rarely used even by careful speakers as the first word in a question; and many authorities have now conceded the point."
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/who.html

I vote Who.

[Mason Hellmuth]

[ QUOTE ]
(I forget all the fancy names for this)

[/ QUOTE ]
This might be a good sign that you're getting it wrong.