Using who, whom, and that in adjective clauses

We are going to show you how who and whom work in Adjective Clauses.

The women were nice. They visited our school.

We want to combine those sentences, using Adjective Clauses. They is a subject pronoun. Well, who is a subject pronoun too, in Adjective Clauses.

The women who visited our school were nice.

Great! So far so good. But notice: when you use who, you don't need they anymore!

Now whom.

The women were nice. I met them yesterday.

Them is an object pronoun. Well whom is too, in Adjective Clauses.

The women whom I met yesterday were nice.

Now notice something: You don't need them if you use whom.

Ready to do some more Adjective Clauses?

Okay. Let's combine these next two sentences:

I thanked the boy. He found my wallet.

We can use who:

I thanked the boy who found my wallet.

Or, listen to this!: we can use That.

I thanked the boy that found my wallet.

Now let's combine these next two sentences:

The men were kind. I met them.

We can use whom:

The men whom I met were kind.

Or we can use that:

The men that I met were kind.

Or... now, here's where you need to pay attention, we can omit, yes omit (that means "leave out" or "not use") an object pronoun in an Adjective Clause! Can you believe that?

The men ø I met were kind.

That's what native speakers usually do. They omit an object pronoun when they can.

And let me tell you this: native speakers don't like to use whom a lot. It's one of those "get all dressed up in your best clothes" words: very formal.