Guide 4th e. Chapter 3 Problem set

[ellenzhang1111]

Q 13: Whoever rented these movies has to take them back before midnight.

Is this sentence correct:

Who rented these movies has to take them back before midnight.

I am a bit confused by the differrence between whoever and who. Any instructor can provide a detail explanation? Thanks!!

[tim]

The only times I can think of that we would use "who" would be as a question word or a relative pronoun, not as the subject of a declarative sentence:

Who [question word - note the question mark] stole the cookies from the cookie jar? Whoever [subject of a declarative sentence] did is the person who [relative pronoun attached to "person"] should replace them.

Also remember to switch to "whom" and "whomever" when you are using these words as objects.