‘Whom’ and ‘Whomever’

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Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.

My math class just finished an unit on square roots.

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Recently I wrote a couple of posts about the Apostrophe Protection Society. I’m thinking of starting my own organization, tentatively called the “Down with Whom and Whomever Club.” Our charter will state two foundational principles:

Whom and whomever don’t add anything useful to a sentence
If you come across whom or whomever in a sentence, they’re probably wrong – even if the author is a professional writer

Here’s an example from my files. This is from an article about a teacher who was stealing from students’ lockers:

The student placed his black Samsung slider cell phone in an empty locker inside the boys’ locker room to catch whomever might be stealing the money.

It should have read “whoever might be stealing the money.” Here’s how you figure it out: “he was stealing the money” – “whoever might be stealing the money. When in doubt, substitute he for who and him for whom. It sounds like “Tea for Two,” doesn’t it?

He for who

And him for whom

Give the book to whoever wants it.  CORRECT  (“he wants it” – “who wants it”)

Give the book to whomever you like.  CORRECT  (“you like him” – “you like whomever”)

You can feel that m (him, whom) in your mouth. But why are we fussing with this? Just use who and whoever. So simple!

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                                      Whooom?

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

Use the sound of a word – not the spelling – to use a and an correctly. If you’ve been exposed to a lot of spoken English, you’ll get it right automatically. Just trust your ear. In today’s sentence, “a unit” is similar to “a youth.”

My math class just finished a unit on square roots.  CORRECT

What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.[image error]

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