Sentence Correction

Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind, will demonstrate adaptive equipment that allows visually impaired people to use computers.

A. one who
B. one of them who
C. and one of them who
D. one of whom
E. one of which

OA: D

Some understanding about who/whom =

The word "who" is a relative pronoun that is used instead of another pronoun, it is used when you want to replace another pronoun such as "he", "they" or "we". The word "whom" is the objective case of who, and it is used when "who" is not the subject of its own clause. More succinctly, it should be used when you want to replace the words "him", "them" or "us".

Generally, when the option is given to replace one word with the other, just determine whether "he" or "him" makes sense as a substitute, and go with the associated pronoun.
"Who is at the door?" He is at the door.

"Whom should I thank?" You should thank him.

Now on the above theory we can be easily come down to B or D.

we know that "them" is also an object pronoun that can very well refer to group of people i.e. presenters

I can see there is a logical or a meaning issue with B(I don't see a grammatical or a semantic issue there ) , but can't really point it.

Can some expert please help me.

richachampion wrote:Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind, will demonstrate adaptive equipment that allows visually impaired people to use computers.

A. one who
B. one of them who
C. and one of them who
D. one of whom
E. one of which

An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun phrase.
A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
B: Presenters at the seminar, one...who is blind
In each case, the phrase in red seems to be an appositive for presenters at the seminar.
The implication is that PRESENTERS can be defined as ONE WHO IS BLIND.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate A and B.

C: Presenters...and one of them...will demonstrate
Here, them seems to refer to presenters, yielding the following meaning:
Presenters and one of the presenters will demonstrate.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate C.

E: Presenters at the seminar, one of which
Here, which is intended to refer to presenters, but this pronoun cannot serve to refer to people.
To refer to people, we use who or whom.

The correct answer is D.

OA: Presenters at the seminar, one of whom is blind, will demonstrate
Here, the portion in blue is not an appositive but a RELATIVE CLAUSE.
Conveyed meaning:
PRESENTERS at the seminar, OF WHOM one is blind, will demonstrate.
This meaning makes sense.

GMATGuruNY wrote:
An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun phrase.
A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
B: Presenters at the seminar, one...who is blind
In each case, the phrase in red seems to be an appositive for presenters at the seminar.
The implication is that PRESENTERS can be defined as ONE WHO IS BLIND.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate A and B.

Mr. Hunt, Whatever I have learned so far =
COMMA + CONCRETE NOUN usually stands for the DIRECTLY PRECEDING NOUN.
Here directly preceding noun is seminar. Although in that case also it will create a Nonsensical meaning, but what I can't understand is that how "COMMA + CONCRETE NOUN" is now following the seminar here.

GMATGuruNY wrote:
An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun phrase.
A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
B: Presenters at the seminar, one...who is blind
In each case, the phrase in red seems to be an appositive for presenters at the seminar.


OA: Presenters at the seminar, one of whom is blind, will demonstrate
Here, the portion in blue is not an appositive but a RELATIVE CLAUSE.

How come in D it is treated as as relative clause, but in A it is treated as an appositive. I belive both has subject and verb. Isn't it?

Or Perhaps I have some knowledge gap.

richachampion wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:
An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun phrase.
A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
B: Presenters at the seminar, one...who is blind
In each case, the phrase in red seems to be an appositive for presenters at the seminar.
The implication is that PRESENTERS can be defined as ONE WHO IS BLIND.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate A and B.

Mr. Hunt, Whatever I have learned so far =
COMMA + CONCRETE NOUN usually stands for the DIRECTLY PRECEDING NOUN.
Here directly preceding noun is seminar. Although in that case also it will create a Nonsensical meaning, but what I can't understand is that how "COMMA + CONCRETE NOUN" is now following the seminar here.

one is not a concrete noun but a pronoun.
Since who cannot refer to a non-person noun, it seems clear that one who is intended to refer not to seminars but to PRESENTERS (the nearest preceding noun that refers to people).

An appositive does not have to refer to the immediately preceding noun if the intended referent is crystal clear.
An OA from GMAC:
The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is a landmark development.
Here, it is crystal clear from context that the intended referent for the appositive blue is not zoo -- the immediately preceding noun -- but the recent birth.

GMATGuruNY wrote:
An APPOSITIVE is a noun or noun phrase that serves to explain or define another noun phrase.
A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
B: Presenters at the seminar, one...who is blind
In each case, the phrase in red seems to be an appositive for presenters at the seminar.

OA: Presenters at the seminar, one of whom is blind, will demonstrate
Here, the portion in blue is not an appositive but a RELATIVE CLAUSE.

How come in D it is treated as as relative clause, but in A it is treated as an appositive. I belive both has subject and verb. Isn't it?

Or Perhaps I have some knowledge gap.

D: Presenters at the seminar, one of whom is blind
Here, whom is a relative pronoun serving to refer to presenters, a noun that PRECEDES the comma.
As a result, the portion in blue is a relative clause serving to modify presenters.

A: Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind
Here, who is a relative pronoun serving to refer to one, a pronoun that FOLLOWS the comma.
As a result, who is blind is a relative clause serving to modify NOT presenters but ONE, and the entire portion in red is an appositive intended to refer to presenters.