Whoever or whomever

I was watching “The Office“ here on cable last night, and in this episode the characters debate at an all-staff meeting about whether someone has used “whomever“ properly.

There were lots of opinions, nearly all of them wrong, and I wanted to scream and pull my hair out. Less than 1 percent of the population knows how to use the words. One bright guy at The Office said that “whomever“ was the “more formal“ way to say whoever. Well.

The rule is, you use whoever when it´s the subject within the clause, and whomever when it´s an object within the clause, or the object of a preposition within the clause.

Incorrect People often mistakenly say, for example, Give the money to whomever wants it, thinking that it´s “whomever“ because the word follows “to.“ But it should be “whoever wants it“ because “whoever“ is the subject of the clause.

Correct: Give the money to whoever wants it.

Hint: To test whether you´re using the words properly, just drop “-ever“ from the word and see if it sounds right.

Wrong “He will perform for whomever shows interest.“ (Test: He will perform for whom shows interest.) The test doesn´t sound right, does it? That´s because without the -ever cluttering things up, you can see that “who“ is correct as the subject of the clause “who shows interest“ or “whoever shows interest.“

Correct: He will perform for whoever shows interest.

If you don´t like my explanation, try this one. It´s pretty good, and it tries mightily to make it simple.