Whom anxiety?

[Baker, John]

I believe that most of the investors referred to are entities, so the
uncertainty more likely was whether "who" could properly be used in
reference to entities.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 1:42 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Whom anxiety?

The first sentence in the lead article of today's NYTimes, writen by
Nelson D. Schwartz and Eric Dash:

"Bank of America is completing an agreement to pay $8.6 billion to
settle claims by investors that purchased mortgage securities that
soured when the housing bubble burst, according to people briefed on the
deal."

Did the writers have whom anxiety, fretting over whether to use
"whom" or "who" in the phrase "by investors that", and evaded the
question?

Joel

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