“It’s not?”

“No, it’s not.  The word her will always be an object pronoun.  You gave the book to her.  You talked to her.  You went with her.”

“Who is she?’

“Who is who?”

“This girl that I gave the book to, talked to, and went with.”

“Aunt Ruth, you just ended a sentence with a preposition.”

“Dear nephew, I’m going to take your prepositions and …”

“Now Aunt Ruth, don’t get nasty.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.  I forget sometimes to who I am speaking.”

“To whom.”

“To you.”

“No, I mean you should say to whom, not to who.”

“Why?”

“Who is the subject form, whom is the object form.  The word to is a preposition and whom is the object of the preposition.”

“Wow, I actually almost understood that.”

“Good.  Now, I’ll give you some short sentences.  You tell me if they’re good or bad sentences.”

“Okay.”

“First sentence: He is the one.”

“I think that sentence is correct.”

“Very good, Aunt Ruth.  That one is him.”

“That’s a good sentence.”

“No, that’s a bad sentence.  That one is he.  That one is he.  That one is he.”

“Oh, right.  You would never say, ‘Him is …’”

“Good, Aunt Ruth.  Here’s another phrase: for whom the bell tolls.”

“What bell?”

“It doesn’t matter.  Is it for who or for whom?”

After a couple moments of silence, Aunt Ruth responded.  “For whom?”

“Good, good,” I praised.  “You’re doing great, Auntie.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, nephew.  I’m not your Auntie.  I’m your Aunt.”

“You are Aunt Ruth?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Good, nicely done,” I replied.

“Nephew?” the voice at the other end asked.

“This is he,” I stated.

“This is who?” she asked.

“Yes, this is who,” I affirmed.  I continued with, “On whom did I put the plate of spaghetti?”

“On I,” she said victoriously.

“Wrong,” I sighed.

“Why wrong?” she asked.

“Because on is a preposition.  Therefore it needs an object.  It needs me.”

“Darling nephew, it does not need you.”

“No, I mean you should say that the plate of spaghetti was on me.”

“It was on me, darling nephew.”

“Very good, Aunt Ruth.”

“I don’t even know what I’m saying or to whom I am saying it.  All I know is I am Aunt Ruth, this is she to whom you are speaking.”

“You are correct!”

I heard one big sigh of relief.

A few moments passed and I heard nothing else.

“Aunt Ruth?”

“What do you want?” she quietly asked.

“Let’s talk about its versus it’s.”

Click.