Pronoun case for who and whom
22a. To who should we send the letter of commendation?
22b. To whom should we send the letter of commendation?
My answer is: 22b
Yes
Right.
You are correct, the correct pronoun case to use in this sentence is "whom," as shown in 22b.
To understand the difference between "who" and "whom," it is important to grasp the concept of subjective and objective pronouns. "Who" is a subjective pronoun, which means it is used as the subject of a sentence or clause. On the other hand, "whom" is an objective pronoun, used as the object of a verb or a preposition.
In sentence 22b, the pronoun is the object of the preposition "to." Since "whom" is an objective pronoun, it is the correct choice. The phrase "To whom" correctly indicates the recipient of the letter. In contrast, using "who" in this context would result in grammatical inconsistency.
The trick to determining whether to use "who" or "whom" is to identify whether the pronoun is functioning as a subject or an object in the sentence. In this case, because the pronoun is receiving the action of the preposition, it is functioning as an object, and therefore "whom" is the appropriate choice.