In the romance languages, say Spanish with estar and ser - the intransitive nature is rendered clearer. In the US, especially now, with deterioration across the board.. there are far more egregious daily screwups (\ufffd l\ufffd 'me and him went to a ') which murder any idea of the er, mellifluous.

'Weren't they [those] whom..' works, technically. I suppose. The elided [those] has to be insertted by the listener. Awkward, that.

I think the phrase, 'they who blah blah', behaving somewhat as an object while-referring-to-a subject (!) scans better; and what "scans better" is oft lost in that kind of analysis as tends towards the turgid. Y'know?


I who be.