Learn English – With whom/who VS who/whom with

prepositions

Which is correct:

1) Who do you want to come with?
2) With who do you want to come?
3) Whom do you want to come with? 
4) With whom do you want to come?

I heard using "whom" is formal and "who" is informal.

It was written if we use "who" the preposition can be only at the end of the sentence:

"who...with"

But if we use "whom" the preposition can be in the both places:

With whom...
Whom with...

But at the same time I read some information that having the preposition after the questioning word is informal like:

With whom... - formal
Whom with - should be informal

But it's a confusion.

The sentence "Whom … with" is formal because of 'whom" but not "who" and informal because of "with" after the "whom".

Please, could you explain all of it to me?

Best Answer

Who is the "subjective" form (also called the nominative). Whom was originally the "objective" form (also called the accusative, but including what in other languages is called the dative as well). However, whom is increasingly replaced by who, especially in less-formal contexts.

The thing to understand is that while both the use of "whom" in the objective case and the avoidance of sentence-final prepositions are often seen in formal use, English isn't divided into two simple formal and informal registers.

Both "who[m]... with" and "with who" (which is unusual, but certainly permissible) could be considered as lowering the degree of formality , yet neither is as informal as it's possible to be. Both might be considered more formal than informal in some contexts.

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