Word Crimes

[mellow weasel]

I mean, I deliberately made one mistake to see if you'd catch...

Let's say I believe

[Burger]

I let my participles dangle.

[Sailor-Polka-Moon]

I LITERALLY COULDN'T GET OUT OF BED.

[mellow weasel]

I LITERALLY COULDN'T GET OUT OF BED.

What happened?

[Burger]

I LITERALLY COULDN'T GET OUT OF BED.

What happened?

Either there is a massive animal on top of you or last night was very interesting.

[algonacchick]

I know, I shouldn't get into debates with youtubers, but this person is trying to say that it is okay to say _to who_. When is that ever correct?
He used a sentence twice in his post, but changed it the second time, claiming that either way it is correct. What do you think?

Give this to whoever needs it. vs Give this to who needs it.

Don't you have to have a subject between to and who in the second sentence?

I know, it's 1:30 am, but I'm reminded of a meme Jon posted. Something like:
"Come to bed, honey."
"No, someone is being wrong on the internet."

[TMBJon]

I know, I shouldn't get into debates with youtubers, but this person is trying to say that it is okay to say _to who_. When is that ever correct?
He used a sentence twice in his post, but changed it the second time, claiming that either way it is correct. What do you think?

Give this to whoever needs it. vs Give this to who needs it.

Don't you have to have a subject between to and who in the second sentence?

I think the only way to resolve this question is to have Skippy and The Sporkman hash it out over the next 27 pages of this thread.

[algonacchick]

Well, this guy answered my post, and explained why he was right. I still think he's not, and we shall see. I posted the question on a grammar website. So far, my comment is awaiting moderation. Update: I found an example of exactly what I was talking about, without having to wait for an answer. I don't like the way this guy replied to me. The explanation was okay, but he added. "I am correct. Thanks for playing." He has done that to a few other people. Just seems cocky. Anyway, it's not earth-shattering stuff, I just want to find out which is correct.

Here is the example I found:

“Give it to who/whom?” is a sentence of one clause and is a different sentence from “Give it to whoever/whomever asks for it first,” a sentence of two clauses where you must consider each clause before deciding whether to use whoever or whomever. Since you cannot substitute him in both clauses (Give it to him. He asks for it first.) The correct sentence is “Give it to whoever asks for it first.”

His sentence has two clauses as well, and can be broken down:

Give this to him. He needs it. So, "Give this to whoever needs it." is correct. I can sleep at night now.

Well, now I've been proven wrong. I checked his sentence on about 5-6 grammar checkers, and they all said there were no errors. I always thought there had to be a subject between to and who. Live and learn.

[The Sporkman]

"Whoever" is the subject of the relative clause. You're expecting the preposition "to" to take an object functioning as the antecedent of the relative pronoun. However, indefinite relative pronouns like "whoever" and "whichever" often do not have antecedents; rather, the entire relative clause itself functions as a nominal phrase in the main clause and, in this case, as the object of the preposition. Whether or not "who" can function the same way as "whoever" is probably something that varies by dialect.

Does that help?

[algonacchick]

I don't know. This person was challenging Al's lyrics by proving you can say to who as well as to whom. It just sounds wrong.
I thanked him for the healthy discussion after posting about how I discovered he was right after all. I wanted to be the classy one.