Some say that ‘whom’ is going out of fashion and that you should not bother about it at all. This sounds too easy don’t you think? So, in the meantime …
If you could replace the word in question with he/she/they/I - it’s who.
If you’d say him/her/them/me - it’s whom.
It seems to be working for me but I’m sure that like all good rules there will be an exception that will cause me grief.
Writing dialogue takes practice. Content is one thing, punctuation is another.
A lifetime of formulating reports and briefings did not prepare me for this aspect of fiction writing at all.
We are told that dialogue done well, particularly with the punctuation correct, is seamless and goes unnoticed by the reader. Too true. I do not have any idea how my favourite written dialogue passages are punctuated.
There is plenty of sage advice on how to write good, engaging and compelling dialogue; but it is near to useless if you have not got the punctuation under control!
