Who Whom Which That
I was rallied into a discussion among linguists yesterday regarding the appropriate use of who/whom/which/that. The initial distinction is most familiar. Who and Whom apply to persons, while Which and That apply to things, locations or even situations. Who often refers to the subject of a sentence, for example, the one who throws the ball. Whom is used to situate the recipient of an action in a sentence. To whom is the ball thrown?
That and Which were more difficult to distinguish. However, it is my present assumption that That is used when modifying actions or nouns in transitive or relative states, such as we are looking for the ball that may have rolled under the car. While which may better serve when proceeding a being verb. They used the red ball which was found under the car.
So … that is a word which is used when the subject or object of a sentence is not a person, and if the subject in question is a person, which would also be commonplace, the word becomes a who through which an action is ascribed unto a whom.
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Leah