Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[rice07]

Dear Teachers:
In telephone English,people might say"Whom may I say is calling?"or"Whom should I say is calling?"
My question is-If "whom" is the object of "say",what is the "subject" in the sentence,then. Thanks for your help! (Whom may I say=subject?)
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[buddhaheart]

In more formal English, �who� (vs �whom�) as a subject in the subordinate clause should be used, i.e., �Who may I say is calling?" or "Who should I say is calling?" �Who may I say� may be the subject of the sentence. I would analyze it as a complex sentence and each clause has its own subject. First re-order the question into "May/Should I say who is calling?" �May/should I say� is the main clause and �who is calling� is the subordinate clause. �I� is the subject of the principal clause and �who� is the subject of the dependent clause.

[rice07]

Hi buddhaheart
I'm not a native English-speaker,so it's a little unusual to me that "whom" can be a subject followed with "is calling" in a subordinate clause.Anyway,thanks a lot for your precise analyses to this question which are really a brilliant idea to me.