[Grammar] Whoever and Whomever in noun clauses

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grammarfreak

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Dear teachers.

As far as my knowledge and as I stated in a previous thread about this topic, whoever acts as subject of a verb in the noun clause and whomever as object whether direct or indirect. I want your explanations in the following sentences found in a grammar book, in which noun clauses with whoever act as object and whomever as subject.

WHOEVER

1- We told whoever would listen to us our sad story (the noun clause whoever would listen to us is acting as indirect object of the verb tell)

2- Give the book to whoever asks for it or give it to whoever asks for it (whoever asks for it is the indirect object of the verb give and the subject of the verb ask, in the second sentence is the direct object of the preposition to)

WHOMEVER

1- You think whomever smiles at you to be your friend (the noun clause whomever smiles at you is acting as the subject of the verb to be and whomever as the subject of the verb smile)

2- Tell it whomever bought the car (whomever bought the car is the subject of the verb buy)


Waiting for your assistance in this matter, remember these sentences were found in Websters New World english grammar handbook.


Dear teachers

As my username says, I am very interesting on grammar, soon I will try finding a pronunciation and phonetics courses free online for my pronunciation, many native english speakers have told me that my pronunciation is not bad, but they also have told me that I need to improve it. I pronounce words separately well, but in a conversation is not the same, please if some of you know a website or several websites about it, just let me know it/them.

Very sincerely,


Grammarfreak.
 
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Barb_D

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As soon as you wrote "the subject of the verb..." then you should have realized (based on other posts you've made on this topic) that the proper work is "whoever" not "whomever."
 

grammarfreak

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As soon as you wrote "the subject of the verb..." then you should have realized (based on other posts you've made on this topic) that the proper work is "whoever" not "whomever."

Thank you Barb_D for your comment, but these sentences was found in a grammar book.
 

5jj

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Did you read this post in the last thread?
 

Barb_D

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WHOMEVER

1- You think whomever smiles at you to be your friend (the noun clause whomever smiles at you is acting as the subject of the verb to be and whomever as the subject of the verb smile)

2- Tell it whomever bought the car (whomever bought the car is the subject of the verb buy)


Waiting for your assistance in this matter, remember these sentences were found in Websters New World english grammar handbook.

In my opinon, these sentences are wrong.

The verb "smiles" has a subject, and that subject should be "whoever" not "whomever." The entire clause could be replaced by "him" so I understand the desire to make it the objective case "whomever" but you choose between "whoever" and "whomever" (note 1) based on the role it plays in its embedded clause, not the role of the entire sentence.

The verb "bought" has a subject, and that subject should be "whoever." The entire clause "whoever about the car" is the OBJECT in the sentence "tell it to ____."

note 1: That is, if you choose as all, since I agree with 5jj that most natives don't use this at all.
 

grammarfreak

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In my opinon, these sentences are wrong.

The verb "smiles" has a subject, and that subject should be "whoever" not "whomever." The entire clause could be replaced by "him" so I understand the desire to make it the objective case "whomever" but you choose between "whoever" and "whomever" (note 1) based on the role it plays in its embedded clause, not the role of the entire sentence.

The verb "bought" has a subject, and that subject should be "whoever." The entire clause "whoever about the car" is the OBJECT in the sentence "tell it to ____."

note 1: That is, if you choose as all, since I agree with 5jj that most natives don't use this at all.

Thank you again Barb :

I will take your help for ganted, the motive of my doubt is due to that those sentences are written in a grammar book which I just made reference.


Respecfully,

Grammarfreak
 
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