Whoever vs. Whomever
In the “English Rules” section of my site, GrammarBook.com, you will find my simple explanation for determining whether to use who or whom.
Briefly, this is the trick:
who = he (subject pronouns)
whom = him (object pronouns)
Example: Who/Whom is at the door?
He is at the door.
Example: For who/whom should I vote?
Should I vote for him?
To determine whether to use whoever or whomever, here is the trick:
him + he = whoever
him + him = whomever
Examples:
Give it to whoever/whomever asks for it first.
Give it to him. He asks for it first.
Therefore, Give it to whoever asks for it first.
We will hire whoever/whomever you recommend.
We will hire him. You recommend him.
him + him = whomever
We will hire whoever/whomever is most qualified.
We will hire him. He is most qualified.
him + he = whoever
When the entire whoever/whomever clause is the subject of the verb following the clause, look inside the clause to determine whether to use whoever or whomever.
Examples:
Whoever is elected will serve a four-year term.
Whoever is elected is the subject of will serve.
Whoever is the subject of is.
Whomever you elect will serve a four-year term.
Whomever you elect is the subject of will serve.
Whomever is the object of you elect.
Pop Quiz
- Omar will talk about his girlfriend with whoever/whomever asks him.
- Kimiko donates her time to whoever/whomever needs it most.
- Quinton will work on the project with whoever/whomever you suggest.
- Whoever/Whomever wins the lottery will become a millionaire.
Answers
- whoever
- whoever
- whomever
- Whoever
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English In A Snap: 68 One-Minute English Usage Videos
View Jane’s 68 one-minute video lessons that are available FREE. Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends.
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Wordplay
English Is Easy? (Part 4 of 4)
Thanks to Ken H. for sending these in.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do
* people recite at a play and play at a recital?
* ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
* have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.