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I can justify the pronoun usage both ways in this sentence. Is it possible they are both correct? I am leaning towards who, but I need confirmation for determining errors in a review. Thanks.

Charles said it without knowing whom it could be.
Charles said it without knowing who it could be.

without knowing who it could be = prepositional phrase
knowing = object of the preposition (gerund)
who it could be = noun clause acting as direct object of knowing

Using the standard "replace whom with he or him to analyze":
Charles said it without knowing him.
It could be him.

Interesting question. I think only "who" is correct. Doesn't "whom" have to be the object of a transitive verb? In this case "who" is the subject of an intransitive verb (to be). "Who it could be" is a clause, but "who" is the subject of that clause.

Anyway, that's the way I see it. I hope you get some more opinions.

Juliet+1 wrote: ↑25 Jun 2021, 23:11 Interesting question. I think only "who" is correct. Doesn't "whom" have to be the object of a transitive verb? In this case "who" is the subject of an intransitive verb (to be). "Who it could be" is a clause, but "who" is the subject of that clause.

Anyway, that's the way I see it. I hope you get some more opinions.

It looks like we are the only ones who care about this. LOL
The more I analyze it, the worse it gets.
Thank you for your contribution.

Hey there,

Based on what I was able to find, I believe that only the use of "whom" is correct. I found an interesting article that helped me with this, as I was also confused about this rule. Honestly, this was a very helpful article. There was even an explanation of how subjects and verbs play into the action part of the sentence. I hope that this article helps!

https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/whom-vs-who/

I think "whom" is correct. In your sentence, Charles is the subject of the sentence. "Whom" will be the object.