*Whom was given the book? The syntactical subject of passives usually take the direct object, which is in an accusative case, changes it into the nominative case. In the sentence, " the book" is not the subject but the direct object. The construction doesn't have an overt subject (null subject). The active construction reads: 1. (null)-subj gave-V [the book]-DO [to-P whom-IO]? This construction is fine: 2. Who was given the book? The problem in the sentence above is clearly one of a case mismatch. "Whom" is a rare word that still retains its dative case marking. When fronted as the subject of the passive, it cannot be in the dative case but in the nominative case. eq equivocal Joined on Tue, Mar 1 2005 Junior Member 58 Constructions, Whom, Direct Objects, Nominative, Accusative Related discussions Who/whom everyone For Whom the Bell Tolls Are we ready to kiss "whom" goodbye? Prestige forms One country, many variants? What to expect in Ap English Language/Comp... The decline of "whom". Relative 'which' referring to people Linguistic Critics ??? What is Grammar?What r the functions???? What is Prose? Ambiguous "let"? MrPedantic  +  77933 Thu, 03 Mar 05 12:31 AM Hello eq Thanks for that – I'm actually looking at a slightly different question here. In another thread, it was pointed out to me by an AmE native speaker that 'Whom did you give the book?' was an acceptable AmE form. This intrigued me, as in BrE, you would say 'To whom did you give the book', or 'Who did you give the book to?', but not the sentence above. It occurs to me that if you can say (in AmE) 'Whom did you give the book', you should also presumably be able to say (in AmE) 'Whom was given the book?', where the sentence is taken as an inversion with the subject (book) at the end. I myself cannot 'hear' 'Whom was given the book?' as a grammatical sentence. However, I'd be interested to know if anyone else can. MrP MrPedantic Whom julielai  +  77937 Thu, 03 Mar 05 01:02 AM Dear Mr. P, I speak American English and even I say "to whom did you give the book" or "who did you give the book to" julielai Joined on Sun, Oct 24 2004 Senior Member 3,827 Just another blogger (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/julie-lai) Whom, American English MrPedantic  +  77940 Thu, 03 Mar 05 01:07 AM Maybe my leg was being pulled, Julielai. It does happen. What a pity. MrP MrPedantic CalifJim  +  78023 Thu, 03 Mar 05 05:40 AM In another thread, it was pointed out to me by an AmE native speaker that 'Whom did you give the book?' was an acceptable AmE form. ME, Mr. P. I said it! But I said nothing about "Who/whom was given the book?", that I recall (Alzheimer's?). Maybe I went too far. I haven't done a survey or anything. It's just that it sounds fine to me, and I speak AmE! If "whom" can be either accusative or dative, then it should be able to stand on its own in either case. I invited John. You invited whom? Whom did you invite? (Who did you invite?) I gave John the book. You gave whom the book? Whom did you give the book? (Who did you give the book?) CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,379 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Whom, Accusative MrPedantic  +  78031 Thu, 03 Mar 05 07:38 AM Thanks, CJ! How about in the sentence in the subject box? Can you hear that with 'whom' as dative and 'book' as subject? (I'm just curious as to whether 'dative whom' is strong enough to carry inversion.) MrP MrPedantic Whom CalifJim  +  78258 Fri, 04 Mar 05 03:45 AM Whew! I can hear it that way if I try hard, but I like the surface subject of a passive sentence to be as much a nominative as the surface subject of an active one. Accusative: *Whom was invited? Dative: *Whom was given the book? And also: *To whom was given the book? But "To whom was the book given" seems OK. The one I should probably find acceptable -- "*Whom was the book given?" -- I don't! Go figure! CJ CalifJim Whom, Nominative, Accusative, Passive Sentences MrPedantic  +  78382 Fri, 04 Mar 05 02:09 PM Thanks for that, CJ! I can only hear 'book/subject' if I keep repeating it to myself. After a while, it all starts to sound vaguely Anglo-Saxon. MrP MrPedantic Whom 1 2 3 4 5 Welcome to Englishforums.com, the world's largest EFL / TEFL social network. Places to start Introduce yourself Find new friends Chat! Upload photos Watch our videos Test your English Answer some questions Do you believe that Latin-based words are more formal? In another thread, someone... Two Amazing poems by D.L. Whited Longing She rises... When was the English language invented? Hi there! Anyone know... Students: Commonly faced problems Tips for getting fast... English Test How to Write a Letter Idioms Formal Letter Graduation Songs Who sings a certain song Join our Facebook group here. Become a fan of Englishforums! Follow us on Twitter! 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