Learn English – The use of “For whom”

pronounsword-choice

A. Speaking as the president, who chose this team and for whom it works,
etc.

A.1 I know "For whom it works" means his chosen team works for the president. This use of "Whom" confuses me. How can you rephrase the sentence using "who", and what other ways might be possible to convey the same meaning so I can understand the meaning in different phrasing?

B. That is not a solution available to most people for whom email has
become a necessity.

B.1 Does this sentence mean that for most people email has become a necessity?

C. People will now vote for whom they are told, forced to vote by
people who have a hold over them.

C.1 Does this sentence mean that people are told to vote for certain people? I didn't understand the second part "Forced to vote by people who have a hold over them"?

  1. What other wording can be used to convey the same meaning of "For whom"?

Best Answer

A.1. To rephrase well using "who," you need to know a little more about the relationship between the President and the team. Possibilities might include: "Speaking as the President, who chose the team and leads the team" or "Speaking as the President, who chose the team and acts on the recommendations of the team," etc. More generally, if you want to use "who" and not "whom" you need to know what the President does with or gets from the team and not just what the team does for the President.

B.1. To me this sentence is ambiguous. It could mean that for most people e-mail has become a necessity, or it could mean that there is a subset of people for whom e-mail has become a necessity, and for most of that subset the solution is not available. For the former I would add a comma: "That is not a solution available to most people, for whom e-mail has become a necessity." For the latter I would say "That is not a solution available to most of those people for whom e-mail has become a necessity."

C.1. Yes, it means they are told how to vote. The phrase after the comma is reinforcing the point by saying that the people (the same people who are told how to vote) are forced to vote by people who have a hold over them. Arguably these are two slightly different points: they are forced to vote (versus staying home and not voting) and they are told how to vote. As you can tell from what I've just written, I think you can re-phrase to say "how to vote" instead of "for whom to vote." It is idiomatic in that it does not mean "told how to mark the box or pull the machine lever," but "told how to vote" is commonly used to mean "told which way/for whom to vote."

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