I'm working on the list of minor corrections and one of the examiners has corrected my punctuation and grammar. One of the corrections required that I change a 'who' to 'whom' but according to Word 2007 (I have all the grammar checking things switched on because I'm not a great writer) disagrees with the change. So what do I do? Go with the examiner I suppose. This doesn't fill me with confidence though :-(

Hi Sarah, I've just been reading about uses of the word 'whom' in Joseph William's book 'Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace'.

Williams reckons that whom should be used as 'the object of a verb proposition'.

E.g. 'Who am I writing for?' (incorrect) 'For whom am I writing' (correct)

Using 'whom' as the subject is also incorrect.

E.g. 'The committee must decide whom should be promoted' (incorrect)

Williams reckons misuse of whom, as the subject of a sentence, can be a sign of over enthusiasm for grammatical rules, born of insecurity.

However, I would go with whatever the examiner says, especially since when I just ran the correct and incorrect uses of 'whom' through my Word 2007 grammar check it passed them all; I find Word grammar check is not always reliable. 

Yep, I'm going with the examiner right or wrong. It's driving me nuts though. The examiner is also very fond of commas and Word is protesting, I have green lines everywhere :p

I'd go with the examiner as well. Doesn't prevent you using the different form in any subsequent book or papers spun out from your thesis. But best to keep the examiner happy to get you that PhD first.

Never trust Word for grammar changes - it's complete crap! Follow your examiner's opinion (even if you think he/she is wrong) or double-check with grammar/style guides.

Check out Grammar Girl (I love her advice!):

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-whom.aspx

"When you're trying to decide whether to use who or whom, ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him. That's the trick: if you can answer the question being asked with him, then use whom, and it's easy to remember because they both end with m. For example, if you're trying to ask, "Who (or whom) do you love?" The answer would be "I love him." Him ends with an m, so you know to use whom. But if you are trying to ask, "Who (or whom) stepped on Squiggly?" the answer would be "He stepped on Squiggly." There's no m, so you know to use who. So that's the quick and dirty trick: if you can't remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence, just remember that him equals whom."

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Don't use Word as a grammar tutorial. Even if you set it to English (UK) it is very patchy. It kept correcting something I was doing where I was sure I was right, and eventually I switched to Word's way of doing things. But I subsequently checked in grammar books and my original choice was perfectly acceptable in UK English.

If you're staying in academia, or plan to pursue any job involving writing, it's worth developing your writing skills - I'm sure the vast majority of us here still have room for improvement. I'd suggest getting some kind of grammar/style guide for reference - always handy for resolving those tricky bits. Personally I like "New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors" (although this isn't a grammar book) but I'd suggest going to a bookshop and browsing to see what fits in best with where you're at and how you'd like to develop.

[Edited to add - these days I actually switch off the grammar correction function in word as it is just too darn annoying]