another Mounce mistake

Wayne Leman wayne_leman at sil.org
Fri Nov 1 11:05:15 EST 2002


> Mitch:
>
> Mounce uses this example on page 110:
>
> "Give the Bible to whomever asks for it."
>
> Note his mistake here (whomever). And to boot, he even
> states that the clause must be viewed as a unit.
>
> Just to clarify, had the sentence ended with "whomever,"
> then the objective case would be correct, however, WITHIN this
> clause, "whoever" must be in the subjective case.

Actually, this needs to be nuanced some, Mark. The objective case has
traditionally been used following a preposition regardless of position
within the sentence. What has happened is that many speakers, myself
included, have shifted from using the objective case in the above sentence.
So many people have done so, also, that I, as a descriptive linguist, would
consider the using either "whoever" or "whomever" in Mounce's sentence are
both grammatical.

>
> I must admit, I didn't figure this out myself; it was pointed
> out to me by an English grammarian.

And that grammarian was basing their comments on current usage which has
moved away from using the objective case in sentences such as the one
written by Mounce. I happen to speak like your grammarian friend. It doesn't
sound right to me, anymore, to use the objective case in Mounce's sentence.
And I'm almost 53 years old and was trained strictly to use the objective
case following all prepositions. But language rules change as speakers
change how they speak and write. Your grammarian friend is correct in noting
this language change. There still are English speakers, including probably
many on this b-greek list, who would continue to use only the objective
case, as Mounce did.

Wayne
-----
Wayne Leman
http://committed.to/fieldtesting

>
> Mark Wilson




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