Whoever vs. Whomever

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Guest

#110991 Mon, 20 Jun 05 10:05 PM

What about this case:

There are several excellent candidates, and you can be sure that (whoever / whomever) is chosen by the selection committee will make an outstanding presentation.

or:

At the conference, a scholarship prize is awarded to (whoever, whomever) makes the most compelling and convincing speech.

Does the use of the passive voice make a difference?

Guest

Dates

MrPedantic

#111017 Tue, 21 Jun 05 12:01 AM

Hello Guest

In both cases, 'whoever' is grammatically correct:

1. ...whoever is chosen...

Here, 'whoever' is the subject of 'is'.

2. ...to whoever makes...

Here, 'whoever' is the subject of 'makes'.

As a previous poster has mentioned, you can test for case by substituting 'the person who/whom' for 'whoever/whomever' in such sentences.

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Forum Guru (11,804)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Whom

Anonymous

#116282 Thu, 07 Jul 05 06:29 PM

CalifJim,

Thanks for the clarification. I am paying now for sleeping through grammar class.
KV-F

Anonymous

Grammar

Anonymous

#221613 Mon, 01 May 06 07:32 PM

You're correct!

Even though it's "give the package to him" - which would require a "whom". But "he" or "she" (whoever) is the subject of the verb comes. Therefore it's whoever

Anonymous

Verbs, Whom

Anonymous

#240956 Wed, 28 Jun 06 07:46 PM

You are correct. Sadly, a community college hotline gave you the wrong answer. (This is what happens when schools no longer teach the diagramming of sentence structure.) "Give it to whoever comes to the door" is correct because "whoever" is the subject of the clause "whoever comes to the door."

Anonymous

Clauses, Sentence structures

Anonymous

#241021 Wed, 28 Jun 06 11:20 PM

Just for kicks, what about this sentence? Whomever, or whoever ?

A paid vacation will go to __________ with the correct answer.

Anonymous

Clive

#241038 Thu, 29 Jun 06 01:16 AM

Hi,

Just for kicks, what about this sentence? Whomever, or whoever ?

A paid vacation will go to __________ with the correct answer.

Neither sounds good to me. I'd say

A paid vacation will go to _the person_ with the correct answer.

However, I'd also say A paid vacation will go to whoever has the correct answer.

(So, do I get a paid vacation?)

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Forum Guru (19,216)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Anonymous

#245970 Sun, 16 Jul 06 05:08 AM

Ah Grasshopper, but you are wrong. The subject of the sentence is an understood [you] as in "[You] give the package to...". "Whomever" is, in fact, the object of the preposition "to". It goes like this: The subject is [You](understood), followed by the action verb "give" followed by the peposition "to", followed by the object of the preposition "whomever". And therefore, "comes to the door" (descriptive phrase) could actually be replaced with "is wearing a red bandanna" or "asks for it" or "likes to listen to Def Leppard". Try to reverse the sentence using "whomever comes to the store" as the subject and and yet retain the same meaning of the sentence. You can't do it! Because "whomever" is not the subject. Whomever is the recipient of (object of ) the action in the sentence. Now do you see? The hotline was correct.

Anonymous

Prepositions, Verbs

Mister Micawber

#245993 Sun, 16 Jul 06 06:59 AM

It's a shame to have to keep flogging this for the Anons who don't have a grammar book, but:

[You] -- understood Subject

Give -- Verb

the package -- Direct Object of give

to -- preposition

whoever comes to the door -- clause object of preposition. (whoever = S; comes = V; to the door = prepositional phrase as adverbial of direction)

to whoever comes to the door -- prepositional-phrase equivalent if Indirect Object.

To repeat Komountain, California Jim, Mr Pedantic and Clive: whoever, whether formal or informal, is correct grammar. Whomever is hypercorrection.

Everyone is free to use whichever s/he chooses, however.