Hi all,

I'm creating a handout to introduce the Direct Object Pronoun to my 
class. I gave it to some colleagues to proofread, and a debate 
started over whether "whom" or "who" should be used in the 
explanations. This is an excerpt of the text:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You can identify the direct object by asking the question "what?" or "whom?"
[...]
...a direct object can also be the person we are referring to. So, in 
a sentence like:	
"The dog chased Alice"	
"Alice", the person we are referring to, is the direct object. "Whom" 
did the dog chase? Alice.

Similarly, in the sentence:	
"The car hit Andrew",	
  "Andrew" is the direct object. "Whom" did the car hit? Andrew.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Several colleagues corrected me by saying the DO pronoun responds to 
the question "who", not "whom", and that the two examples are 
grammatically incorrect: they should read "Who did the dog chase" and 
"Who did the car hit".

I understand that the use of "whom" there can sound stilted and 
"puffy", as one book puts it, but still, isn't "whom" in the same 
category as "him/her", and thus, the DO? Some of my colleagues said I 
was confusing DO and IO, and that "whom" was used for Indirect 
Objects, as in "Whom did you give it to?". I responded that the IO 
was actually "To whom" or "For whom", but me not being a native 
speaker of English, I know my credibility is "0" when it comes to 
language issues.

So, do you have any comments, suggestions, etc., on my wording in the 
handout? Should I go ahead and replace "whom" to decrease negative reactions?

The handout will be used in a Spanish grammar class. We would cover 
what the DO is in English, and how it is used, and once we have that 
common background knowledge, we'll see how it is used in Spanish.

Thanks for any feedback you provide me with.

Regards,

Roberto Perez
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