sodes discussing it is that it’s a dying word. It appears so rarely that casual speakers don’t have enough data to figure out how to use it just through context. If they haven’t learned about it specifically in a grammar book, they’ll make their best guess about how to use “whom,” and often that best guess is that you use “whom” when you want to sound especially formal, regardless of whether it’s a subject or an object.
If “whom” survives at all, this sentiment could well become the accepted standard, like it or not. Worse, if that’s the rule your audience is going by, they might regard you as stuffy and high-falutin’, when all you’re trying to do is use standard grammar. It’s completely unfair!
Second, even those who have learned about “whom” have often learned only enough to cause confusion in the more difficult sentences. Even if you’re among “whom”-supporters, at least some of them will be firmly convinced that “Whom do you think will come to the party?” is standard grammar. At least some of them will be convinced that “I want to speak to whomever did this” is correct, and want to change your “whoever” to a “whomever.” Although the rules I’ve given are considered standard now, the misconceptions could well become standard in the future. In the minds of some grammarians today, they already are (1).
When in Doubt, Rewrite
To avoid the “whoever/whomever” problem altogether, you could rephrase it as as “the person who” or “the person whom,” or even just “the person.” So instead of “I want to speak to whoever did this,” you’d have “I want to speak to the person who did this.” Instead of “Whomever I hire will start immediately,” you could write “The person I hire will start immediately.” When you’re faced with a “whoever/whomever” choice, it’s often a good time to dodge the issue and simplify your sentence.
This article was written by Neal Whitman, who has a PhD in linguistics and blogs at Literal Minded, and it was edited and read in the podcast by Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.
1. Zwicky, Arnold. June 18, 2007. “ISOC, ESOC.” Language Log post, http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004616.html (accessed June 9, 2011).