Question

In the following sentence, should "Who" or "Whom" be used in the blank space?: You will be shocked when I tell you ___ called me just now.

Answer 1

"You will be shocked when I tell you who called me just now."

Explanation:

This is a great question. Many people don't know the difference between the two and are unsure when and where to use them. Here's a simple rule to remember, when your unsure about whether to use "who" or "whom" replace it with "he" and "him."

So, in your sentence, "You will be shocked when I tell you ___ called me just now," we can put in "he" and "him" and see which one sounds best. This will in turn tell us to use "who" or "whom"

"You will be shocked when I tell you he called me just now."

OR

"You will be shocked when I tell you him called me just now."

I think its clearly pretty obvious that "he" works better. Now we know that "who" will work best here.

"You will be shocked when I tell you who called me just now."

Remember! If you can replace it with "he" then use "who," if you can replace it with "him" use "whom."

Hope this helped!
~Chandler Dowd