whomever or whoever?

No doubt, it should be 'whoever'.

Please note that 'whoever' corresponds to 'he' and 'whomever' corresponds to 'him'. And you may easily understand that:
[1] He should sign up today. (Correct)
[2] Him should sign up today. (Incorrect)
So, you should say 'Whoever should sign up today'.
paco

On the contrary, Paco. The agreement is within the subordinate clause. Allow me to modify a few details of your explanation.

Please note that 'whoever' corresponds to 'he' and 'whomever' corresponds to 'him'. And you may easily understand that:
[1] He wishes to donate crafts. (Correct)
[2] Him wishes to donate crafts. (Incorrect)
So, you should say

CalifJimOn the contrary, Paco. The agreement is within the subordinate clause.

Hello CJ

Thank you for correcting me.

Hurmm... I had long thought 'whoever' and 'whomever' were pronouns. But it seems wrong. Maybe we have to treat them as some sort of adjectival relative. The precedent noun it modifies will be such as 'anyone', though i

The second sentence is indeed grammatically correct.
Only time will tell whether the sentence actually expresses a matter of fact!

Hi CJ

Thank you for the reply. I believe it is correct contextually too.

paco

Dear Paco,

May we perhaps exchange «anyone whoever» and «anyone whomever» for «anyone who» and «anyone whom»?

It is perhaps simpler thus.

Hello Goldmund

Thanks for the advice. I agree it's a wise way to rephrase 'whoever' & 'whomever' as 'anyone who' & 'anyone whom'. But what I wanted to say is that I suppose 'whoever' & 'whomever' might not be a noun in its origin.
paco

Hello

I'm still stuck to this issue. If a 'whomever' clause can stand as the subject in a sentence, a 'whoseever' clause also should be able to do so. Then one might think a sentence like below is also grammatical.
Whoseever the car is is responsible for the accident.
But I am wondering such a sentence is really grammatical.
paco

Hello Paco

I think the natural word order would be:

'Whosever car this is is responsible for the accident.'

Does that make it less troubling?

MrP

Hello Mr P

Thanks for the answer. Do you say "whose is this car?" is less idiomatic than "whose car is this?". But I think "whose is it?" is a quite natural sentence. Am I wrong? Anyway I am a bit surprised to know "whomever" and "whosever" can be used as a nominative despite the fact they look an objective and a possessive respectively..
paco