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Confused between whom and which

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by senthil » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:05 pm
2. All the firms have a panel of brokers through whom they transact deals and
build databases.
(a) brokers through whom they
(b) brokers, through whom they
(c) brokers through which they
(d) brokers, through which they


Here the second sentence refers to the 'panel of brokers' so does that
mean it should be " through which " or " through whom " ?

panel is a thing so shud it not be refered as "which" ? ignoring the middleman of.

... though at first I chose 'a' now I am confused......................................
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by umaa » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:53 pm
IMO C. It directly points to the panel.
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by aroon7 » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:18 pm
I think it is A

flipping the sentence:

... they transact deals and build databases through brokers
we need a object pronoun to refer brokers. so whom

we cannot use which because "they transact deals..." through brokers and not panel.
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by nervesofsteel » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:58 am
C for me too...

Panel of brokers should be referred with WHICH....
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by mjjking » Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:34 am
IMO C, because it refers to panel and not brokers and hence u need which.
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by techwiz » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:35 pm
C

Reference is to 'Panel of Brokers'
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by sjd00d » Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:30 pm
how about comma vs. no comma, what rules govern that
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by senthil » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:11 am
As this has involved a lot of discussions and confusions . I was waiting for the moderator or MGMAT staff to reply for this posts.

So please wait for the OA till any instructor posts his/her choice
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by gmat4babu » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:56 am
While I am no expert, I believe the answer is A. Whom is more appropriate because "panel" does not transact deals and build databases instead brokers do. Comma is not required for essential modifier.
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by nox104 » Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:40 am
C for me too. a panel [ a prepositional phrase] through which..
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by Bidisha800 » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:58 pm
"through whom" refers to brokers ...(A)
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by lunarpower » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:44 am
this is not a gmat-like question. the answer is, at best, ambiguous, and the differences between the choices are way too subtle.

the first issue is that there are two possible interpretations that both make sense: (1) the firms transact deals and build databases through the panel of brokers, or (2) the firms transact deals and build databases through the brokers themselves. #1 corresponds to choices (c) and (d), and #2 corresponds to choices (a) and (b).
both of these are valid interpretations.

between choices (a) and (b), both are reasonable. this sentence makes sentence with either an essential modifier (the one lacking a comma, used rhetorically for something that's necessary to the meaning of the sentence) or a nonessential modifier (the one with a comma, used rhetorically for something that's descriptive but unnecessary). the meanings are slightly different - (a) implies that there might be other panels of brokers, while (b) implies that this is the only panel of brokers - but they both make sense.

choice (d) is wrong, because "through which" refers to "brokers". (it must refer to the word immediately preceding the comma.) that doesn't work, because "which" can't be used to refer to people.

choice (c) also makes sense, because the nonessential modifier ("through which they...") is allowed to refer to the whole noun phrase "panel of brokers". (see problem #50 in the og11 diagnostic test for evidence of this.)

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real gmat problems don't rely solely on distinctions that are this subtle, although they may bundle subtle distinctions with less subtle distinctions.
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by lunarpower » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:46 am
by the way, what's the source of this question? (whatever it is, it should now go on your list of dubious sources.)

and where's choice (e)?
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by dubeystuts » Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:44 pm
OA?

I will go with C
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