different between whosoever vs whomever

English

Etymology

who +? soever

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hu?s????v?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hu?so???v?/

• Rhymes: -?v?(r)

Pronoun

whosoever (objective whomsoever, possessive whosesoever)

1. whichever person; whoever
   • 1597 – William Shakespeare, Richard II v 3

     If thou do pardon, whosoever pray,
     More sins for this forgiveness prosper may.

   • 1611 – King James Version of the Bible, Luke 6:47

     "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like"

   • 18?? – Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History

     This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.

   • 1982 – Michael Jackson, Thriller

     Whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell

Usage notes

• See who and whom.

Translations

Related terms

• who
• whoever
• whomsoever

Anagrams

• howsoever

English

Alternative forms

• whomsoever

Etymology

whom +? ever

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /hum??v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)

Pronoun

whomever (objective case of whoever)

1. Objective case of whoever.
   • Max Beerbohm:

     “To impose his will on whomever he sees comfortably settled.”

Usage notes

• Who is a subject pronoun. Whom is an object pronoun. To determine whether a particular sentence uses a subject or an object pronoun, rephrase it to use he/she or him/her instead of who, whom; if you use he or she, then you use the subject pronoun who; if you use him or her, then you use the object pronoun. The same rule applies to whoever and whomever.

• Who can also be used as an object pronoun, especially in informal writing and speech (hence one hears not only whom are you waiting for? but also who are you waiting for?), and whom may be seen as (overly) formal; in some dialects and contexts, it is hardly used, even in the most formal settings. As an exception to this, fronted prepositional phrases almost always use whom, e.g. one usually says with whom did you go?, not *with who did you go?. However, dialects in which whom is rarely used usually avoid fronting prepositional phrases in the first place (for example, using who did you go with?).

• The use of who as an object pronoun is proscribed by many authorities, but is frequent nonetheless. It is usually felt as much more acceptable than the converse hypercorrection in which whom is misused in place of who, as in *the gentleman whom spoke to me.

• For more information, see "who" and "whom" on Wikipedia.

Related terms

• whom
• whichever
• whoever

Translations