English

Alternative forms

• whomsoever

Pronoun

whomever ‎(objective case of whoever)

1. Objective case of whoever.
   • Max Beerbohm:

     “To impose his will on whomever he sees comfortably settled.”

Usage notes

• Who is a subject pronoun. Whom is an object pronoun. To determine whether a particular sentence uses a subject or an object pronoun, rephrase it to use she/he or her/him instead of who, whom; if you use she, then you use the subject pronoun who; if you use her, then you use the object pronoun.

• In informal writing and speech who is also used as an object pronoun (hence one hears not only whom are you waiting for? but also who are you waiting for?), and whom may be seen as (overly) formal. As an exception to this, fronted prepositional phrases almost always use whom, e.g. one usually says with whom did you go?, not *with who did you go?.

• The use of who as an object pronoun is proscribed by many authorities.

Related terms

• whom
• whichever
• whoever

Translations