Whomever vs. Whoever

 

The biggest problem with “whom” is that, once you start using it, you’re signaling that you’re writing formally. So you have to keep using it. So you chug along, finding the choice pretty easy in most cases. But then you encounter a sentence where “who” or “whom,” or especially “whoever” or “whomever,” is positioned between two or more clauses. That’s where people lose their grip. Here’s what I mean:

Give the job to whoever/whomever you believe will do it best.

A basic understanding of object pronouns might suggest that “give it to” needs an object: “whomever.” But that would be wrong. In this case, the object of the preposition “to” isn’t a single word but a whole clause. So to know which is right, you need to consider how your pronoun fits in with the rest of the clause.

The easiest way to do that is to look only at the last part of the sentence and plugging in “he” and “him,” remembering that “he” like “who” is a subject and “him” like “whom” is an object.

You believe he will do it best.

You believe him will do it best.

Clearly, this calls for a subject, he. Why? Because the verb phrase “will do” needs a subject.

So our original sentence requires a subject pronoun: Give the job to whoever you believe will do it best.

If the second part of the sentence needed an object, that’s when “whomever” would apply: Give the job to whomever you want.

See the difference? That second clause, “you want,” already has a subject, “you.” The verb “want” takes an object like him or whom (you want him) and not a subject like he or who (you want he).

The simplest illustration I can think of is:

The man who marries me

The man whom I marry

Here the first one takes the subject “who” because he’s the one doing the marrying. But in the second, it’s “whom” because that verb already has a subject, “I,” so clearly what’s needed is an object (“I marry him,” not “I marry he”).

Tinkering this way can help you understand how the parts work together, which is the key to choosing your pronoun. But when in doubt, remember this: If a pronoun is in position to be the object of one thing and the subject of another, the subject form wins.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2015 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.