ver_ is a double relative, including both antecedent and relative;
and parse it, first as antecedent, in connexion with the latter verb, and
then as relative, in connexion with the former. But let him observe that
the order of the verbs may be the reverse of the foregoing; as, "Ye are my
friends, if ye _do_ whatsoever I _command_ you."--_John_, xv, 14. That is,
according to the Greek, "If ye do whatsoever I command _to_ you;" Though it
would be better English to say, "If ye do whatsoever I command you _to
do_." In the following example, however, it seems proper to recognize an
ellipsis; nay, the omissions in the construction of the last line, are as
many as three or four;--

"Expatiate with glad step, and choose at will
Whate'er bright spoils the florid earth contains,
Whate'er the waters, or the liquid air."--_Akenside_.

OBS. 14.--As the simple word _who_ differs from _which_ and _what_, in
being always a declinable pronoun; so its compounds differ from theirs, in
being incapable of either of the double constructions above described. Yet
_whoever_ and _whoso_ or _whosoever_, as well as _whichever_ and
_whichsoever, whatever_ and _whatsoever_, derive, from the affix which is
added, or from the peculiarity of their syntax, an unlimited
signification--or a signification which is limited only by the following
verb; and, as some general term, such as _any person_, or _all persons_, is
implied as the antecedent, they are commonly connected with other words as
if they stood for two cases at once: as, "_Whoever_ seeks, shall find."
That is, "_Any person who_ seeks, shall find." But as the case of this
compound, like that of the simple word _who, whose_, or _whom_, is known
and determined by its form, it is necessary, in parsing, to treat this
phraseology as being elliptical. The compounds of _who_ do not, therefore,
actually stand for two cases, though some grammarians affirm that they
do.[193] Example: "The soldiers made proclamation, that they would sell the
empire to _whoever_ would purchase it at the highest price."--_Goldsmith's
Rome_, p. 231. That is--"to _any man who_ would purchase it." The affix
_ever_ or _soever_ becomes unnecessary when the ellipsis is supplied; and
this fact, it must be confessed, is a plausible argument against the
supposition of an ellipsis. But the supposing of an antecedent understood,
is here unavoidable; because the preposition _to_ cannot govern the
nominative case, and the word