It is commonly assumed that the English interrogative/relative pronoun whom
is parallel to him and them in manifesting objective pronominal Case. We a
rgue instead that whom is not Case-marked along with these pronouns. Rather
, its Case marking follows a different paradigm. Whom in modern English der
ives from a set of extra-grammatical rules called 'grammatical viruses'. Sp
eakers call upon such rules to check Case and (possibly) agreement features
which the normal system of syntax cannot check, but which prestige usage d
emands. Sentences with whom are typical of sentences resulting from grammat
ical viruses. Such virus-licensed products have a 'prestige' status, they a
re not typical of child language, and the intuitions about their use are st
rikingly different from intuitions about the use of other grammatical eleme
nts that they are traditionally claimed to work along the lines of. In the
latter instance, intuitions about the use of whom differ markedly from intu
itions about the use of ACC personal pronouns.