Case of pronouns

Today, while watching a football game, I heard someone say that someone gave something "to he and I." Of course that should be "him and me." I think someone once told him not to use "him and me" as a subject, and the admonition made too deep an impression.

Then I heard Brooke Gladstone of NPR's On the Media say that someone should give a prize "to whomever can do . . .."  That should be "whoever," because, while the object of the  preposition "to" is a clause, a pronoun takes its case from its role in the clause. In this case, "whoever" is the subject of the the clause.

A little later, I heard someone use "we, the people" as the object of a preposition. I suppose they would argue that "we, the people" echoes the preamble to the US Constitution, which gives them license not to use the grammatically correct "us, the people." Maybe, but maybe not.

Phrases like "they say," "I believe," and so forth often trick people into using the objective case where they should use the nominative. The key to avoiding this error is to recognize that a phrase like "I believe" is parenthetical. For example, "George, whom I believe is a victim, just lost his job." The "whom" in that sentence should be "who." It is not the direct object of "believe."

"Whom" often turns up in place of "who" in the sentences of people who are unsure of the rules.