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So my class has this question, which is:

Probably it can be anyone (who/whom) is qualified, perhaps even Mr Capp.
(Found on page 112 in Grammar for Writing Workbook.)

I personally put who, because the way I'd phrase that into a sentence is like such:

He/She is qualified for the job.

However, my fellow students say because it's a product of a preposition it should be phrased like:

The one qualified for the job is him/her.

Any help would be useful.

herisson
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Matt Zelda
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  • Any question asking about whom is a trick question. The answer is always "If the who/whom is the object of a preposition, use whom. Otherwise, always use who." Object of a preposition is the only situation where whom is required; everywhere else it's either optional or ungrammatical. So, always use who, and only use whom when it's the object of a preposition -- and avoid that construction; you can always strand the preposition: To whom are you speaking? = Who are you speaking to? Executive summary: Don't use whom. It's dead. – John Lawler May 15 '15 at 15:30
  • Grammatically here, anyone is the object of the clause "it can be anyone", but who is the subject of the clause "who is qualified". It gets tricky when the same word (usually who(m)ever) is both the subject and the object: "Kudos to who(m)ever can answer this question." – Peter Shor May 15 '15 at 17:03
  • @Peter: the rule works the same with whoever. Don't use whomever unless it's the object of a preposition. The whoever in your example is a subject (of can), not an object; the whole S is the object of the preposition. One does have to be able to distinguish clause objects from pronoun objects; but if there's any problem, go with who anyway. Whom is just kept around to make up distractors for examinations. – John Lawler May 15 '15 at 19:53

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