Whoever vs Whomever
Whoever and whomever are similar words, but there are some important differences between them. Whoever and whomever are both pronouns. Traditionally, whoever, like who, is used when it’s the subject of a sentence, and whomever is used when it’s the object. However, in informal and, increasingly, some formal situations, whoever can also be used as an object while leaving out whomever completely.
Here are some definitions and examples to help make the use of these words clearer.
Whoever (pronoun)
1) In its interrogative form, used in place of “who” for emphasis.
Examples:
Whoever could it be?
Whoever invented such a delicious dish?
2) Whatever or whichever person.
Examples:
Whoever is against the queen shall die.
Whoever came up with this idea was a brilliant person.
Whomever (pronoun)
Whatever or whichever person. Used only as an object in a sentence.
Examples:
I don’t care about it anymore. Give it to whomever you want.
My boss yells at whomever he wants to.
Main Points
- Whoever and whomever are similar words, but they have some slight differences.
- Besides whoever’s first definition, whoever and whomever mean the same thing, but whoever is used for the subject of a sentence, while whomever is used for objects.
- In most forms of English, whoever can be used as both a subject or an object in informal situations and, increasingly, some formal ones.