Adnan,
I'm going to ask a question about the Arabic original wording here, because I'm curious: Does the verb in that particular relative construction have a 3rd-person singular object suffix? If so, that might be an additional point influencing the translator to choose "whom rather than "whomever."
Bill Spruiell
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Adnan Ashraf
Sent: Sun 9/6/2009 5:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A person will be with whom he loves.
Professor Stahlke:
Your illuminating, thought-provoking, and quick response is greatly appreciated, and I thank you for it. God-willing, it will add to my motivation to review some grammar texts before classes start this upcoming term.
As for the sentence (A person will be with whom he loves), it is a translation of a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace).
Thanks very much (and to the facilitators of this list, as well),
Adnan Ashraf
________________________________
From: STAHLKE, HERBERT F [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: A person will be with whom he loves.
Adnan,
Let me address your sentence first and then some of the thoughts you express in your posting.
The sentence you ask about uses what is sometimes called an independent, or headless, relative clause, that is, a structure in which the sentence contains no head noun for the relative pronoun to refer to. This construction is generally considered to be a bit archaic. A good example of it is the proverb "Who laughs last laughs best." In Present Day English we would, as you point out, use "whomever" in such a construction since we now form independent relative clauses almost exclusively with indefinite relatives.
On your question of number, whether "whomever" invites a plural interpretation, Let me suggest that "whomever," as an indefinite, is used generically here. It refers to the class of persons comprising whom one loves but does not suggest a specific person. In "whom he loves," "whom" has specific reference. As you point out, without a head it isn't clear whether the antecedent is singular or plural, but the reference would be specific, a specific person or specific people, such as one's family.
You ask whether the grammar of the sentence is perfect. We don't generally use that word to describe the well-formedness or appropriateness of a sentence. The use of "ain't" in a sentence would make the sentence inappropriate in most cases for formal discourse. However, in establishing identity with group that uses "ain't" regularly, it might be judged appropriate and well-formed for that dialect, and a sentence with a formally correct contraction might not be. Grammaticality, including appropriateness, tends more to be scalar than categorical.
Herb Stahlke
Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Adnan Ashraf
Sent: 2009-09-05 06:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A person will be with whom he loves.
Greetings,
God-willing, I would like to know if the grammar of the following sentence would be considered perfect:
A person will be with whom he loves.
To my ear, it sounds like something is missing, that the sentence should read: A person will be with those whom he loves. - OR - A person will be with the one whom he loves.
However, I have not been able to convince myself that the first instance is grammatically incorrect.
Finally, I have heard somebody utter the following variant of the sentence in question: A man will be with whomever he loves.
Am I right in concluding that whomever here suggests plurality, and that is the only way that this last sentence differs from A person will be with whom he loves, which refers exclusively to a singular object of the preposition?
Any authoritative feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks, Adnan Ashraf
English language instructor
Institute of Public Administration
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
http://portfolio.educ.kent.edu/ashrafa/jet/
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