shweta.kalra wrote:hi payal,
someone has commented that if "who" CAN BE REPLACED with "he" then we should use "who".
SO HERE "a reward was offered to "him"MAKES MORE SENSE shouldn't we use "WHOM" HERE.
A reward was offered to "WHOMEVER" WOULD.........................
AND
a reward was offered to "HE" doesn't make sense.
THANKS,
SHWETA
Shweta, you are absolutely correct that we should use who when we can replace this pronoun with he and we should use whom when we can replace this pronoun with him. However, the thing you need to keep in mind is
where this replacement should be done - in the main clause or in the relative pronoun clause. Here is what I mean:
A reward was offered to whoever would return the dog to its owner.
whoever begins the relative pronoun clause -
whoever would return the dog to its owner.
It is in this clause that you should do the replacement and check whether "he" makes sense or whether "him" makes sense. Clearly in this clause "he" makes sense since we can say that "he would return the dog to its owner".
So always makes sure that you perform this test on the clause that begins with this pronoun - whomever or whoever or who or whom.
Now lets check a sentence where whomever will be correct.
A reward was offered to whomever the committee randomly selected.
Now in this sentence, we will perform this test on the clause that begins with this pronoun -
whomever the committee randomly selected.
What is the verb in this clause - selected.
Who did the selection - committee.
Now we write this clause as - the committee randomly selected whomever - and determine whether "he" or "him" can replace it.
the committee randomly selected him.
In this clause - him makes sense. he is incorrect. Thus "whomever" is correct.
I hope this clarifies your doubt. Let me know if you need any further clarifications.
For e-GMAT users, the concept of
who vs whom is explained in the concept titled "Modifiers - Relative Pronouns"
Regards,
Payal
