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He hit his mother, grandmother and sister.

I asked him,

"Who did you hit?"

I want to know who did he hit. Does it sound natural?

JJ12345
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    Yes.­­­­­­­­­­­ –  Jun 21 '17 at 12:57
  • I'd say "Whom did you hit." – SovereignSun Jun 21 '17 at 12:59
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    Ignore the standard rule about If a possible answer is him, use whom; if it's he, use who. Only a pedant would use whom** in your context. We rarely use *whom* in normal conversational contexts today unless it's strongly supported by an adjacent preposition, as in *To whom am I speaking?* And even there, most people would move the preposition further away and settle on *Who am I speaking to?* – FumbleFingers Jun 21 '17 at 13:01
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    @SovereignSun That's strictly grammatical, but it's rather odd in casual conversations. – Mohd Zulkanien Sarbini Jun 21 '17 at 13:04
  • @FumbleFingers You shoulda created FF's Who Truism saying "Don't use 'whom' unless you really have to." – Mohd Zulkanien Sarbini Jun 21 '17 at 13:32
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    @user178049: Arguably the more appropriate rule for most learners in most contexts would be Don't use 'whom' full stop! Off hand, the only place where you're likely to have even a "reasonable excuse" for using *whom* is after *to, but even there I doubt many native speakers would think anything of it if you stuck to who* throughout. – FumbleFingers Jun 21 '17 at 13:39
  • @SovereignSun It might be that the problem was citing rules without citing the reasons and contexts for said rules, rather than the rules themselves. – Lawrence Jun 21 '17 at 15:10
  • It's funny but in educated speech, one might say: Whom did you see? versus Who did you see? But for hit, I daresay most would say who. It really depends on the speaker and the circumstances. – Lambie Jun 21 '17 at 15:31

1 Answers1

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Although "Whom did you hit?" is correct, it is considered formal English and is used less often then "Who did you hit?" which is considered to also be correct in standard English.

However, here's the grammar: "GrammarBook.com"

Rule. Use this he/him method to decide whether who or whom is correct:

  • Who should be used to refer to the subject of a sentence.
  • Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition.

Many people don’t use whom in casual speech or writing. Others use it only in well-established phrases such as “to whom it may concern.” Some people never use it. It’s not unusual at all to hear sentences like these (www.grammarly.com):

  • Who do you believe?
  • Who should I talk to about labeling food in the refrigerator?

In modern usage whom is often dropped in favor of who. It is not difficult to find many examples and hear English like this:

  • Who did they meet?
  • Who did he give it to?
  • Who do you love?

Although some traditional grammarians will point these out as mistakes they are in such common usage that they could almost be classed as correct, standard English now. This has led to a generally perceived notion that whom is more formal and educated than who. (www.icaltefl.com)

blog.oxforddictionaries.com

SovereignSun
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    Did you mean to say: Your sentence "Who did you hit?" is correct. However, "Whom did you hit?" is also possible.? Because, well, whom would be unnatural and stilted in the presumed context, and that's not their sentence. –  Jun 21 '17 at 14:43
  • Let's stick to grammar books. "Who did you hit?" is possible and accepted in standard English, but as I said in my answer "Whom did you hit?" is grammatically correct in traditional English and shows that you are an educated person. – SovereignSun Jun 21 '17 at 14:50
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    Let's not stick to antiquated grammar books because they're just that – outdated. It's not about showing you're educated in this case, it's a matter of register. Whom is not at all used in an informal register, except for a couple of fixed phrases and when whom is the object of a fronted preposition – and even then no one will object (get it) to your use of who. Read more about this in this answer by snailplane, and, please, refrain from spreading this whom nonsense. Whom sounds pompous and out-of-place in a normal conversation. –  Jun 21 '17 at 15:05
  • @userr2684291 I've read that already. I'll edit the informal/formal part. Yet, I as a non-native, can't go against grammar books! – SovereignSun Jun 21 '17 at 15:07
  • Well don't, just stick to the right (modern, descriptive) ones, just as you would in modern Russian. I'm sure there are structures you wouldn't recommend a learner of Russian to use because they'd sound silly. It's the same with English. I'm not a native speaker of English either, for the record. By the way, thanks for being reasonable. –  Jun 21 '17 at 15:10
  • Yes, there are such structures. Yet, they are grammatically correct and show that you are a highly educated person with a great knowledge that is very important, especially if you are a translator or a teacher. – SovereignSun Jun 21 '17 at 15:14
  • Pretty much everyone would say: Who did you hit? in everyday speech. A highly educated person with "a great" knowledge, no. With a lot of knowledge. Nowadays, it doesn't really show anything at all except that whoever says it wants to say it. – Lambie Jun 21 '17 at 15:28
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    -1 for "let's stick to grammar books". I don't mind if we discuss what the grammar books say as a footnote, but as others have tried to insist, using whom in this phrase is going to make you sound like a pompous ass, not an educated scholar. – J.R. Jun 21 '17 at 19:01
  • "Whodyahit?" . – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Jun 21 '17 at 19:08
  • @J.R. Should you appear in a high society would you ask, "Can you help me, please?" or "Would you be so kind as to give me a hand (help me)?" – SovereignSun Jun 22 '17 at 06:24
  • I might say either one, but I'd be more likely to say the first. – J.R. Jun 22 '17 at 17:05
  • @J.R. Well, almost no one says "Would you be so kind as to" anymore. That makes you an educated person. – SovereignSun Jun 22 '17 at 17:07
  • You could say that in the U.S., but few people would react by saying, "Wow, he's an educated person." Instead, they would be more likely to say, "He talks like a snob," or, "Where did he learn English?" It's so out of fashion that it comes across as stilted, not erudite. This kind of politeness has its place, but they way you equate grammar-school rhetoric with "educated speech" is rather bothersome, and I don't think it does other learners a service. Notice how nobody has upvoted your initial comment, but people are upvoting FF's response. – J.R. Jun 22 '17 at 17:46
  • @J.R. It doesn't mean anything. I always try to be educated and speak correctly in either languages. As much as I can of course. – SovereignSun Jun 22 '17 at 17:59
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    Just to be clear, I'm not advising you to speak in an uneducated fashion. There is something to be said for following grammatical rules and not writing as though you are barely literate. I often exhort people on ELL to use proper English, such as when they write "i" instead of "I", or "dont" instead of "don't". So don't get me wrong – I commend you for wanting to speak and write well. But part of being educated is knowing when the grammar books dispense good advice, and when they are giving you dated advice that can be safely ignored. – J.R. Jun 22 '17 at 18:05
  • @J.R. I understand you perfectly well. However, some dated grammar seems really wrong to me somehow. Yes, Who instead of Whom is okay in English now but somehow Who sounds really odd to me cause I always re-check myself, "Who did you hit?" - You hit he/she? – SovereignSun Jun 22 '17 at 18:08
  • I guess it comes down to what the learners expect to find when they come to ELL. Do they want to know formal, prescriptivist, and even outdated grammar rules? Or learn more about how English is spoken in the workplaces and classrooms of English-speaking countries? No doubt, there are many rules in the grammar books where, if you follow them you'll sound more educated, and if you break them you'll sound more ignorant. However, this rule doesn't really fall into that category, and given that your answer here is the only one and has been accepted, I felt compelled to chime in. – J.R. Jun 22 '17 at 18:28