When should you use whoever, whichever, whatever, whenever, wherever & however. Look at the examples in the text and then read the explanations below.
This year’s Australian tennis Open produced the longest final ever at nearly 6 hours. Well, 5 hours and 53 minutes to be precise, and people could not stop watching it wherever they were in the world. It was no surprise that it was between the current world no.1, Novak Djokovic, against one of the all-time greats (even at only 25), Rafa Nadal. It was a superb and exhausting final, but also a truly amazing spectacle between two athletes in their prime – with some experts saying it was the greatest tennis match ever. It was a shame that someone had to lose but whoever did was not important to the viewers. We were entertained and that was the main thing.
However, whenever these two have played in the past, it has always been an epic battle. This one was just the best of the best. If you saw the match, you would have seen that however good Nadal played, Djovokic was that little bit better and that little bit stronger. Although Djokovic won this time, altogether they have now played 30 times and Nadal actually has the slight advantage of 16 wins to Djokovic’s 14. And whichever surface they play on, they always have close matches. Nadal is known as the ‘King of Clay’ so generally he wins the French Open, but recently Djokovic has been dominating the other surfaces and it looks like he will continue to do so.
Even though they are opponents on the court, they are actually good friends off it. Therefore, they have a very respectable rivalry. They have the same manager and have often been seen eating together in restaurants or playing golf. So whichever activity they choose to do, they always seem to be with each other!
There is one other player who is missing in all this: Roger Federer (unfortunately not Andy Murray). He is also regarded as one, if not the, best tennis player ever. And together, their matches are called the ‘Trivalry’. Wherever the other two go, Federer is not far behind. Of course he’s a bit older and his winning ratio is slowly decreasing, but he has been at the top of the game for almost 10 years now. He has won a record 16 grand slams, something which the other two have a long way to go to match. Whatever people think, he is still playing some great tennis and you shouldn’t discount him from any tournament.
You don’t really need to choose who you would like to get to the next Open final (which will be the French), because whoever it is – Nadal, Djokovic, Federer – it is always worth watching. Whatever you do, don’t miss the next one!
Whoever, Whichever etc. Grammar
We use whenever to mean ‘at any time’ or ‘it doesn’t matter when’, e.g. Come to school whenever you like.
We can also use:
- Whichever = any thing from a limited number
“Whichever surface they play on, they always have close matches”
- However = it doesn’t matter how
“However good Nadal played, Djovokic was that little bit better”
- Wherever = any place
“Wherever the other two go, Federer is not far behind”
- Whoever = any person
“Whoever gets to a final – Nadal, Federer, Djokovic – you are always guaranteed value for money”
- Whatever = any thing
“Whatever you do, don’t miss the next one!”
They also have the meaning ‘it doesn’t matter what / which / who / how / where.’
