"Who"/"Whom" and Symmetry‏

Proper arrangements must be made as to who should play which part so that there will be a symmetrical piece to have a good rendition




It has been said that the correct use of "who"/"whom" has confused a lot of writers including very experienced ones. Symmetry is another aspect often overlooked.

I am inclined to believe that the following is one such case.

A truck door that says our drivers are "safe" drivers could make you wonder whether that company does indeed define "safe" differently from everyone else – besides leaving you wondering who they are trying to convince, when safe-driving behaviour alone should do the trick.

The highlighted "who they are" in bold should have been "whom it is".

The sentence in question is taken from an article titled How to shout about it appearing in the column of Mind Our English of The Star on Wednesday May 14, 2008.

Above is the email writtten by me to The Editor, Mind Our English of The Star seeking The Editor's comments, and since more than two months have elapsed, I (having faced such similar situation a few times before) feel that no response will ever be forthcoming.

This post has relevance to my following previous postings:

An error common even among experienced writers,

Asymetrical sentence

Symmetrical sentences and

"Who" or "Whom" (relative pronouns)