Who and Who/Whom Questions
There are two types of question forms that use “who” and “who or whom” in American English.
1. “Who” is used in questions asking about the subject of the verb. The subject is the person who
does the action of the verb. The word order does not change as it usually does when making
questions about the subject. We just put the word “who” in the place where the subject usually is.
For example:
Subject
Verb
Object
Who cooked for the children last night?
Mom cooked for the children last night.
2. “Who” or “whom” is used in questions asking about the object of the verb. The object is the
person who receives the action of the verb. The word order changes (as it does in most English
questions) when making questions about the object. We put the question word “who” or “whom”
at the beginning of the sentence, then the auxiliary verb if the tense needs it, then the subject, and
then the main verb.
For example:
Object Question Word
Who or Whom
Subject
Verb
Auxiliary Verb
did
Subject
Verb
the children cook for yesterday?
Object
The children cooked for Mom yesterday.
Now you try! Make two questions using “who” for the subject or “who/whom” for the object to
ask about the picture below:
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