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To whom it may concern:

On Tuesday, I wrote

The lady who answered the phone, who I'll call Uma, seemed new at her job.

Doug wrote in to say that I should have written

The lady who answered the phone, whom I'll call Uma, seemed new at her job.

Doug is usually right about such things. This case, I thought, was the rare exception. The second who modifies the same lady as the first who, and since lady is the subject of the sentence, I determined that both should be who and neither whom.

But, as I said, Doug is usually right about such things, so I decided I would consult some other sources to be sure. I simplified the sentence a little to make it easier to describe because Doug and I agree that the first who is correct and I didn't want to confuse our Artificial Intelligence overlords.

1. Microsoft Copilot confidently told me I was right:

Microsoft Copilot says 'Who is the correct choice'.

2. ChatGPT seemed to want to appease us both before obsequiously declaring me to be perfect:

ChatGPT says 'Who is the correct choice'.

3. Google Gemini decides to ignore the parts of speech that it doesn't like on the road to ruling in my favor:

Google Gemini says 'Who is the correct choice'.

That's three of the most widely used AI's on the planet telling me that I'm right. Which can only mean that I was wrong. Who is not the subject of that relative clause; I is. (Boy, that was a fun sentence to type!)

After a little old-school Googling, I found the best explanation of this situation was provided by the Writing Resources Center at William & Mary (which taught Thomas Jefferson how to write English so they must be pretty good at it):

Introducing a Dependent Clause:

Within the clause alone (not the whole sentence), if the pronoun is a subject, then who is correct; if the pronoun is an object, then whom is proper. For example:

Many people dislike the new chairman whom we have elected.
[In the clause "whom we have elected," the pronoun whom is the object of the compound verb have elected. One would say, "We have elected him."]

I am scared of the old woman who lives on Main Street.
[In the clause "who lives on Main Street," the pronoun who is the subject. One would say, "She lives on Main Street."]

Someone should tell AI the same thing my high school English teacher would have told me: go open a dictionary. In this case, I recommend specifically Merriam-Webster, whose detangling of who and whom at merriam-webster.com/grammar/who-vs-whom-grammar-usage tells the story of a sandwich, the dog who apologized for eating it, and the lying cat who set him up. Must read. 5 out of 5. And, as expected, in total agreement with Thomas Jefferson and Doug.

Sorry I doubted you, Doug.

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To be continued...

 

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