“Whom vs Who” is a commonly tested concept in GMAT Sentence correction. Some experts advice test takers to listen to the sentence while others advice to focus on the ‘subject’. This rule is partly correct, but in a sentence with multiple potential subjects, applying the rule consistently is a challenge.
We have decoded the ‘Whom vs Who’ quandary with a simple formula that we picked up from Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs.
Whom = Him = Her
Who = He = She
Remember this formula, replace the sentence, and then check if the sentence is correct.
Example: Who did you talk to?
Steps to check ‘Whom vs Who’ Formula
1) Applying the formula, replace “Who” with “He” or “She”
He did you talk to?
She did you talk to?
2) Rearrange the words to make sense
Did you talk to he?
Did you talk to She?
3) Check if the sentence sounds correct
Did you talk to he?
Correct Sentence: Did you talk to him?
Did you talk to She?
Correct Sentence: Did you talk to her?
4) Applying the formula, replace “him” or “her” with “Whom”
Did you talk to whom?
5) Rearrange the words to the original format
Whom did you talk to?
Therefore the correct format is “Whom did you talk to”