objective case

Who, whoever, whom, and whomever are words that often gives writers headaches.

I hope this post will help you to choose which word is the right one to use when you are writing.

First, you need to decide whether your word is the subject of a verb or the object of a verb or preposition.

Subjective case

Who is used as a subject of a verb. So is whoever.

Examples:

Who is at the door?

Whoever runs the fastest will win the race.

Whom is used as the object of a verb or the object of a preposition. So is whomever.

Examples:

Whom did the gang rob?

To whom did you report the incident?

Whom do you want to call?

The job will go to whomever the committee votes for.

I will choose whomever I want.

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It’s not really that hard to figure out. Please don’t say you don’t give a whoot. My owl would be so disappointed.

Pronouns are words that can be substituted for a noun. They can be used as the subject of a sentence or as an object of the verb.

Singular subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it

Plural subject pronouns: we, you, they

Singular object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it

Plural object pronouns: us, you, them

When you use a pronoun as the object of the verb, you must use the objective case, while the pronoun who does the action uses the subjective case.

I called him (her, it).

You called me.

He (She, It) called you.

We called them.

They called us.

I’d like to focus on the objective pronouns. They are straightforward enough to use, but some writers find it confusing when there is more than one objective pronoun.

Here is an example similar to something I read in a book recently.

Bob took a picture of she and I on his cell phone.

When you get over shuddering, think about what’s wrong with this choice of pronouns.

She and I are subject pronouns. The object pronouns, her and me, should have been used.

The reverse is just as bad:

Him and me went to a movie.” Or, worse yet, “Me and him went to a movie.” (In these cases the objective pronouns were used as the subjects.

In most cases, when you have two pronouns (two people, places, or things)) and are unsure of whether to use the subjective or the objective pronouns, try it out with only one of them and your ear will most likely tell you what is right.

Would you say:

Bob took a picture of she on his cell phone?

Or:

Bob took a picture of I on his cell phone?

Trying them out one at a time usually tells you what is right. It should be her, not she, and me, not I.