In this sentence "whom" is correct, but I think "who" is also correct. I need some grammatical explanation.
John was crying for who/whom he lost.
Context – John lost his best friend in an accident.
My explanation –
John was crying for [his friend]
John was crying for [him]
John was crying for [who he lost]
The clause "who/whom he lost" will come down to "him". That "for" before the clause "who/whom he lost" does not attached to "for whom".
Am I right?
Best Answer
Let's review. What you are trying to express is:
Of course, such repetition is undesirable, so English has a tool you can use, called a relative-pronoun. Relative pronouns include who, whom, that, and which. Of those choices, who and whom can be used to refer to people. Who is used for subjects; whom is used for objects.
You probably know all that already, but just need advice in applying the rules.
The pronoun you want is the one in the objective case (whom), because John lost his friend. (Using the subjective case pronoun who would mean that the friend lost John, which is not what you want.)
Remember, also, that relative pronouns help you refer to a noun that would otherwise be repeated. Relative pronouns don't stand alone. The correct sentence should be:
That said, even native English speakers often fail to distinguish between subjective and objective cases correctly. Therefore, you have to be careful about parroting patterns that you see and hear, as you may be copying incorrect examples. On the other hand, you are also unlikely to be stigmatized for choosing the wrong case in everyday speech.