who: Often improperly used for whom: a mark of ignorance when so applied. Do not say “Who do you refer to?” but “To whom do you refer?” Not “Who is that for?” nor “Who did you give it to?” but “For whom is that?” “To whom did you give it?” Compare [THAT, WHO].
whole, whole of: The whole or whole of should be used before a plural noun carefully, and then only when the body is referred to collectively. In general the word entire would better express the phrase. In such cases all should never be employed, as this relates to the individual of which the body is composed. Thus, one may say, “The whole staff accompanied the general,” or (for emphasis) “The whole of the staff,” etc., but it would be better to say “The entire staff.”
If referring to the individual officers, the sentence should read “All members of the staff accompanied the general.”
whole push, the. See [PUSH].
widow woman: A pleonasm. Do not use the word widow, which applies only to a woman, with the words woman or lady. It is an error of speech, common in rural districts, against which it is wise to continually guard.
wife. Compare [LADY].
wild: A colloquialism for “angry” which is to be preferred.
windbag: A coarse term for a boastful and wordy talker: not used by persons who cultivate a refined diction. “Braggart,” “braggadocia,” are more elegant, yet equally expressive terms.
with, and: A nominative singular is sometimes used with an objective after with to form, jointly, the subject of a plural verb; as “The captain with all his crew were drowned.” But according to best usage the conjunction and is substituted for “with”; thus, “The captain and all his crew were drowned.” Where the objective is separated parenthetically by commas, a verb in the singular is used; as, “Aguinaldo, with all his followers, was captured by Gen. Funston.”