Re: Multiple wh-words

Ray Brown wrote:
> BTW I get the impression that the actual use of "whom" in _spoken_ English
> is confined to parts of north America. Is that so?
Frankly, it's all but dead in spoken American, save for a few occasionally
careful (read: pedantic???) speakers like me....and even we aren't always
consistent.

Certainly in this neck
> of the woods (southern UK) it would sound odd & somewhat affected in
> normal colloquial speech. IME it's even rare in more formal spoken modes.
"Odd, affected" may be a little strong. When it's used is a matter of
register-- one wouldn't bother with "whom" discussing car problems with a
mechanic. It's most likely to occur in academic or other "careful" speech
and writing, but even there I'd say it's 50-50 at best :-((