{"id":1051,"date":"2013-09-17T12:39:22","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T18:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:29:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:29:08","slug":"whoever-would-use-whomever-read-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/whoever-would-use-whomever-read-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoever Would Use Whomever<\/em>: Read On"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week we discussed Americans\u2019 odd fondness for whom<\/em>. It\u2019s a word that few really understand, but it just sounds so darned cosmopolitan.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re infatuated with whom<\/em>, we\u2019re over the moon about whomever<\/em>. You hear it everywhere. People love saying it\u2014right or wrong.<\/p>\n

Just recently, a major American newspaper ran a headline that said \u201c\u2026whomever that may be.\u201d When the story jumped to a second page, the headline changed to \u201c\u2026whomever it is.\u201d Horrors! In both cases, this was first-degree whomever <\/em>abuse.<\/p>\n

Like that errant headline writer, too many of us think that whoever<\/em> and whomever<\/em> mean the same thing\u2014and that whomever <\/em>is the sexier choice.<\/p>\n

To determine whether to use whoever <\/em>or whomever<\/em>, last week\u2019s shorthand rule for who <\/em>and whom<\/em> applies: he<\/em> = whoever <\/em>and him<\/em> = whomever<\/em>. Whoever<\/em> is always a subject; whomever <\/em>is always an object. That\u2019s why whomever it is <\/em>and whomever that may be<\/em> could never be correct. We say he is<\/em>, not him is<\/em>, so we must say whoever<\/em><\/strong> it is <\/em>and whoever<\/em><\/strong> that may be<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The presence of <\/span>whoever <\/em>or whomever <\/em>indicates a dependent clause, as in this sentence: Give it to whoever asks for it first<\/em><\/span>. (The dependent clause is whoever asks for it first<\/em>.) You might think the correct word should be whomever<\/em>, an object pronoun, since you\u2019d say Give it to her<\/strong> <\/em>or Give it to them<\/strong>. <\/em>But here is the rule: Always use whoever <\/em>or whomever<\/em> to agree with the verb (asks<\/em>) in that dependent clause, regardless of the rest of the sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n

I <\/em>ask for it, he <\/em>or she <\/em><\/span>asks for it, we <\/em>or they <\/em>ask for it. I<\/em>, he<\/em>, she<\/em>, we<\/em>, and they <\/em>are subject pronouns. Therefore, Give it to whoever <\/strong>asks for it first<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand: We will hire whoever\/whomever <\/span>you recommend<\/em><\/span>. Since you recommend me <\/em>(or him<\/em>, her<\/em>, us<\/em>, them<\/em>), the right answer is whomever<\/em>, the object of recommend<\/em>, the verb in the dependent clause<\/span>.<\/p>\n

So the key is the verb in that dependent clause. Remember that, and may all your whomever<\/em>s be winners.<\/p>\n

POP QUIZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Choose whoever\/whomever<\/span><\/em> you prefer.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Choose whoever\/whomever<\/span><\/em> you think will win.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. <\/span>Whoever\/whomever <\/span><\/em>is chosen, we must pick wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. We discussed it with<\/span> whoever\/whomever <\/span><\/em>we figured might be interested.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Make sure whoever<\/em><\/span>\/whomever <\/span><\/em>you hire turns out to be <\/span>qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Make sure you hire <\/span>whoever\/whomever<\/span><\/em> turns out to be <\/span>qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n

POP QUIZ ANSWERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Choose whomever<\/span><\/em> you prefer. (you prefer him<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Choose whoever<\/em> you think will win. (you think I<\/em> will win)<\/span><\/p>\n

3. <\/span>Whoever<\/em>is chosen, we must pick wisely. (he<\/em> is chosen)<\/span><\/p>\n

4. We discussed it with<\/span> whoever<\/em>we figured might be interested. (we figured they<\/em> might be interested)<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Make sure whomever <\/em>you hire turns out to be <\/span>qualified. (you hire him<\/em>)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

6. Make sure you hire whoever<\/em> turns out to be <\/span>qualified. (she <\/em>turns out to be <\/span>qualified)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week we discussed Americans\u2019 odd fondness for whom. It\u2019s a word that few really understand, but it just sounds so darned cosmopolitan. If we\u2019re infatuated with whom, we\u2019re over the moon about whomever. You hear it everywhere. People love saying it\u2014right or wrong. Just recently, a major American newspaper ran a headline that said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pronouns","category-whowhomwhoeverwhomever"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}