核心畫面

Picture `whoever` as a person-shaped blank in the sentence. You do not fill that blank with a name — you fill it with what the person does: `whoever wrote this`, `whoever gets there first`. The `-ever` on the end is a note saying the name is not the point: either nobody knows it, or it simply does not matter which person turns out to fit.

可以想成 whoever 在句子裡留了一個「人形的空格」。這個空格不是用名字填的,是用「這個人做了什麼」填的:who更多收起可以想成 whoever 在句子裡留了一個「人形的空格」。這個空格不是用名字填的,是用「這個人做了什麼」填的:whoever wrote this(寫這封信的那個人)、whoever gets there first(最先到的那個人)。字尾那個 -ever 像是在旁邊註記一句:名字不是重點——可能是沒人知道,也可能是誰站進來都可以。

Two branches

用「做了什麼」指人

這一組就是那個人形空格直接放進句子裡,當主詞或受詞用,整串 whoever... 就等於一個人。

no matter who · pronoun · B2

Any person, no matter who — used when it does not matter which person does something.

無論誰

「我填不出這個空格」的語氣

這一組的 whoever 不再幫句子指出某個人,而是把空格本身講出來:重點從「是誰」變成「我對不上是誰」。

unnamed person after a name · pronoun · B2

Used right after a name to say that you do not know who that person is.

不管他是誰

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

whoeverpron/huˈɛvɚ/

  • 1

    Who ever: an emphatic form of who.

    • Whoever thought up that stupid idea?
  • 2

    Any person or persons that.

    • Whoever breaks the law will be punished.
  • 3

    The person that (no matter who).

    • Whoever robbed that old lady ought to be locked up.
    • I don't know what it is. Ask whoever put it there.
  • 4

    Regardless of the person or persons that.

    • Whoever stole the painting, the police will catch the thief in no time.
  • 5

    informalAny person or persons.

    • I don't care who gets it; give it to whoever.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形:

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。