Wake, woke (waked), woke (waked, woken). An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms. The forms in parentheses are used to distinguish transitive from intransitive usages of this verb. The transitive sense (with an object) uses “wake, woke, woken”: “Chris wakes Jan” “Chris woke Jan” “Chris had woken Jan every morning.” The intransitive uses “wake, woke (or waked), waked (or woken)” and usually includes “up”: “I wake up; I woke up; I had woke [waked, woken] up.”
Waked. See wake.
Was. First-person and third-person singular past tense of “be”: “I, he/she/it was.”
Wasn’t. This contraction of “was not” is not normally accepted in standard English writing.
Way, ways. “Ways” is a colloquial form of “way” that should not appear in most formal or standard English writing.
Ways. See way.
We. The ftrst-person plural personal pronoun.
Wear, wore, worn. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Well. See good.
Went. See go.
Were. Second-person singular and first-, second-, and third-person plural past tense of “be”: “You, we, they were.”
When, where. Be sure that “when” refers to time, and “where” refers to place. It is wrong to use these words to designate a situation or case that does not suggest a particular time or place. WRONG: “Democracy is when the people rule.” RIGHT: “Democracy is the rule of the people.”
Where. See when. Which. See that and who.
Who, whom; whoever, whomever. Ah, the pain of choosing between “who” and “whom”! It really isn’t that hard if you remember that “who” is always and only a subject, and “whom” is always and only an object: “Who hits whom?” “Who does what to whom?” “Who is that?” “That is who?” “With whom did you talk?” “You talked with whom?”
Each of the examples uses the pronouns “who” and “whom” properly. The only confusing part is when “who” appears after certain verbs, like “is” and other linking verbs (“appear,” “become,” and so on). The right choice is “who” because linking verbs do not have objects; they have subject complements (also called “predicate nominatives”). Subject complements are in the same form (and case) as subjects.
A further confusion arises when “who” or “whoever” is the subject of a clause. Since clauses can themselves be the objects of other things (like prepositions), the correct subject form of “who” might look odd in what seems to be a place that requires an object: “Give the bat to whoever is up next.” “Whoever” is correct here because it is the subject of “is up” and not the object of “to.” The whole clause “whoever is up next” is the object of “to,” but “whoever” plays a role within that clause that requires it to be in the subject form {nominative case). “To whom do I give the bat?” “To whoever is up next.”
In everyday speech or writing, the grammatical distinction between “who” and “whom” is weakening and even becoming a sign of pretension. “Who is that for?” sounds right, while “For whom is that?” might get an odd look, even though it is technically correct because “whom” is the object of “for.” Of course, if your everyday circle of friends or audience is made up of English professors, then the first example might be worse than the second. Similarly, in all formal writing, it is important to maintain the standard English usage and observe the grammatical rules. Just how far speech or writing can deviate and still be comprehensible and acceptable is a matter for each speaker or writer to judge. See also grammar, usage, and style.
Note also that “who” refers to people, whereas “which” refers to things.
Whoever. See who.
Whom. See who.
Whomever. See who.
Who’s, whose. “Who’s” is a contraction of “who is.” “Whose” is a possessive pronoun that modifies a noun, at least implicitly: “Whose house is this?” “Whose is it?” See also pronoun and modifier.
Whose. See who’s.
Will. See shall.
Win, won, won. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Wind, wound, wound. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
With. A preposition governing the objective case: “I went with them.”
Without. A preposition governing the objective case: “We’ll have to manage without them.”
Woke. See wake.
Won. See win.
Worse, worst. The comparative and superlative of “bad” and “badly” and “ill.” See also comparison.
Worst. See worse, bad, ill, and superlative.
Wound. See wind.
Write, wrote, written. An irregular verb in its main, past tense, and past participle forms.
Written. See write.
Wrote. See write.