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Victo Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Whoever / whomever

Is it whoever or whomever in the following sentence?

“And we value the opinions of average people, whoever/whomever they happen to be”?

I say “whomever” because They happen to be him makes sense; thus, "whomever" is correct.

Thanks.
  

Top answer

It's whoever

— Dishant

  • It's whoever
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8 Answers
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It’s whoever. Use whom(ever) only when the pronoun functions as an object.
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I use the "whomever = "him" / "whoever = "he" trick.

“And we value the opinions of average people, whoever/whomever they happen to be”?

"It happens to be he" is more correct than "It happens to be him"?
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victoI use the "whomever = "him" / "whoever = "he" trick.
I’m afraid that isn’t going to work here. Unlike him, whom(ever) is correct only when its an object.
victo"It happens to be he" is more correct than "It happens to be him"?
No.
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And we value the opinions of average people, whoever/whomever they happen to be.


In the above example, if we use the trick, we would isolate the clause 'whomever they happen to be' and would break it down as 'it happens to be him'. 'Him' is incorrect in this example. The 'who(ever)=he / whomever=him' trick won't work here. Unlike 'him', 'whom(ever)' is correct only when
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Is my logic above sound and reasonable? Yes.
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The simplest thing is do what most native speakers of British English do and forget 'whomever', I was amused to note that six of the first ten citations for the word in COCA use 'whomever' incorrectly.
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The award goes to whoever/whomever sells the most candy bars.

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