Whomever vs. Whoever: Choose the Right Word

Whomever and Whoever

Whomever and whoever are pronouns that mean the same thing: “whatever person” or “no matter who.” According to most English teachers, whoever should only be used in the subject position—in other words, in the position of they in “They arrived last”—and whomever should only be used in the object position—that is, the position of them in “I saw them arrive”:

Whoever arrives first should open the windows.

Invite whomever you like.

Sometimes it’s easy to follow the rule: use whoever when the “whatever person” is performing the action of the verb:

Whoever wants to come is welcome.

Whoever made this cake deserves a prize.

And use whomever when the “whatever person” is receiving the action of the verb:

You should invite whomever you please.

We’ll offer cake to whomever we see.

(Note that the situation with whoever and whomever is a lot like the one with who and whom. We have an article about that pair too.)

But sometimes it’s hard to see whether the “whatever person” is truly performing the action of the verb it’s linked to:

Give a slice to whoever wants one. → whoever follows to, which puts it in an object position, but it’s linked to the verb wants and it performs the action of wants in “whoever wants one.”

There’s a test you can use to determine which word to use: try the words they and them and see which makes more sense. They won’t transfer perfectly—they and them don’t mean “whatever person”—but one will always fit better than the other in a slightly modified version of the sentence.

Testing with ‘They’ and ‘Them’

Let’s look at some examples to see how this plays out.

[Whoever/Whomever] wrote that story is very talented. → They wrote that story. (“Them wrote that story” sounds very wrong.) THEREFORE: Whoever wrote that story is very talented.

[Whoever/Whomever] is coming to the party will need directions. → They are coming to the party. (“Them are coming to the party” doesn’t work.) THEREFORE: Whoever is coming to the party will need directions.

The door prizes will be given to [whoever/whomever] arrives first. → They arrive first. (“Them arrive first”: nope.) THEREFORE: The door prizes will be given to whoever arrives first.

Thank [whoever/whomever] this gift is from. → This gift is from them. (“This gift is from they” doesn’t make sense.) THEREFORE: Thank whomever this gift is from.

Bring [whoever/whomever] you’d like to the party. → Bring them to the party. (Not “Bring they to the party.”) THEREFORE: Bring whomever you’d like to the party.

We can invite [whoever/whomever] we choose. → We can invite them. (“We can invite they” is no good.) THEREFORE: We can invite whomever we choose.

What to remember

Whoever is preferred in positions where they (or he or she) are most natural. Whomever is preferred in positions where them (or him or her) work better.

But remember too that in actual usage, whoever is much more common, and whomever is sometimes used only because it sounds formal.