Who vs. Whom

A recent exercise in English 3200 (reviewed here) offered a great clarification of "whom" vs. "who." When either appears in a noun clause (a group of words with a subject and verb that acts as a noun in a sentence), you choose "who" or "whom" based on that word's role within the clause, not within the sentence. (Note that "whom" is the object form of "who," much as "him" is the object form of "he.")

"The prize will go to whoever donates the most money" is correct. "whoever donates the most money" is a noun clause that acts as the object of the preposition "to," but "whoever" is the subject of that clause, so you use that form. On the other hand "The prize will go to whomever I nominate" is correct because "whomever" is the object of the verb "nominate." It doesn't matter that the noun clause is an object.

Similarly, "Whomever I choose will get one million dollars" is correct. "Whomever I choose" as a clause acts as the subject of the sentence, but "Whomever" is the object of the verb "choose." "Whoever arrives here first will get one million dollars" is also correct because "Whoever" is the subject of the verb "arrives" within the clause that acts as the subject to the sentence.

There is a method to the madness.