The Preposition Connection

I just realized that yesterday I promised to talk about how prepositions get thrown into the mix. It’s pretty easy really.

Let’s start out today’s discussion with the difference between who and whom.

Again, who is subjective, and whom is objective. So to recap from yesterday, subjective means that it acts as the subject and objective means that it acts as the object. Now, the object of what… well, the object of a preposition (in this context anyway).

Take the following examples:

Did you give the SQL code to Mary? Did you give the SQL code to me? Who did you give the SQL code to?

OK, these sentences demonstrate a few things. 1. Both Mary and me are objective. They’re the object of the preposition to. 2. Even though it’s widely used, you cannot end a sentence with a preposition. 3. Who is used incorrectly here.

First of all, a preposition is a word that starts a phrase that modifies a verb in such a way that it notates some kind of spatial, temporal, or other kind of relationship between the noun in the phrase and the verb being modified.

OK now… I know that’s kind of a thick definiteion. It’s really just a fancy way of saying where the action is putting the subject.

Let’s look at a simple example: The cow jumped over the moon.

Here, cow is the subject. He’s the one doing the jumping. The cow is jumping… that’s the action the cow is performing. What object is the cow performing this jumping action on? The moon, that’s right. Now, is the cow jumping to the moon, over the moon, through the moon, by the moon, at the moon, etc? Get it? The preposition ‘over’ modifies (or changes) where the cow is jumping. It doesn’t change the cow in the least. The cow is still a cow and isn’t being described at all. But the jump IS being described… it’s ‘over the moon’.

That’s why you officially can’t end a sentence with a preposition. It’s in the name… preposition. It’s pre-positioned (positioned before) its object. Therefore, if the sentence ends in a preposition, then isn’t an object after it, and therefore, it’s not a good sentence. So back to the sentence: Who did you give the SQL code to? If you re-wrote it just as it stands, you would write it like this: You gave the SQL code to who?

Again though, that’s not entirely right. See, again, the word ‘who’ is subjective, and ‘who’ clearly isn’t the subject here. It’s the object of that preposition that comes before it. So you have to use the objective form ‘whom’.

So the correct sentence can have 2 forms: You gave the SQL code to whom? and To whom did you give the SQL code?

It’s just that easy.

I know this sounds like a lot, but it’s really not. Just remember when the subject is ‘who’, you can use ‘who’, otherwise use ‘whom’.

So how many of these sentences are right? Who is speaking? Who are you talking to? To whom are you referring? You gave my bonus to who? Who is your wife?

One funny thing I’ve always found with grammar is people fight it tooth and nail. It ought to be right up our alley here in IT because we’re used to strict syntax. And that’s all grammar is. It’s the syntax of the language you’re using to communicate with people. When you want to communicate to a computer you use the syntax it understands.

You know, that’s part of the reason people are misunderstood so much. They use such bad grammar that it makes the sentence ambiguous.

Of course, I, like everybody who knows anything about grammar, have to live in the real world. When I write, especially in my blog, everything isn’t always perfectly grammatical. I try to add an element of style and write more like I talk. It tends to make it a little less stuffy, and easier to read. The general blog-reading public simply isn’t used to some of the more complicated structures that you run into when you’re making sure that the syntax is perfect. And truthfully, sometimes it sounds a little odd to me too.

I think the main difference that I’m trying to point out is that I choose to ignore the strict grammar sometimes so that I’m more readable to my audience, while those who don’t know even this simple level of grammar don’t have a choice. I always tell people you can break any rule you want if you have a reason.

OK, tomorrow I’m thinking about talking about the grammar of cursing… unless everyone wants me to stop the grammar lessons. I think it’s necessary though for professional development. You should at least know the basics. I mean, afterall, you’ve been speaking English your entire life.