Re: "To whom"

For the record, I am one of those who uses "whom" regularly.  I do
not care what others say since I no longer grade papers.  But I was
offended by being pigeon-holed into one of three distasteful
categories as my reason for using "whom."  We all learn language from
someone else and if I choose to accept my prescriptionist teacher's
English over that of my peers, that's my business.

One problem I see in all this brouhaha is that people bandy about the
word "standard" without a definition.  It SEEMS as though everyone
thinks his speech is standard.  I suppose it depends on which style
manual you prefer or which peer you prefer to emulate.

May I quote from "The Columbia Guide to Standard American English"?
"Only in Oratorical and Edited English and other Formal uses are
these cases [who/whom] always distributed according to those rules.
Conservative practice adheres to them in all levels as well, and such
use is always appropriate, though not
required....Unfortunately, this sort of divided usage [which I
omitted at the ellipsis] has led to much hypercorrection."

I have chosen this particular manual as my guide.  I have yet to be
informed that I have suddenly replaced the Prince of Wales as
successor to the English throne.

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