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Who vs Whom

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by neerajkumar1_1 » Wed May 26, 2010 9:34 am
Once the audience had filed out, Serge began to wonder who, if anyone, had listened to his long speech.
A. began to wonder who, if anyone, had listened to his long speech.
B. began wondering whom, if anyone, had listened to his long speech.
C. began wondering whom, if anyone, listens to his long speech.
D. began to wonder who, if anyone, was listening to his long speech.
E. began wondering who, if anyone, was listening to his long speech.

[spoiler]OA:A[/spoiler]

Personally i use subject / object rule to differentiate between who and whom.
On reading the sentence, I feel Serge is the subject, but i got the answer wrong... Please let me know the correct usage of who or whom... thanks..
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by tpr-becky » Wed May 26, 2010 10:06 am
Serge is the subject of the sentence but who is the subject of the clause so who is appropriate. Whom would be appropriate only if the person listening was the object of the sentence. Who/whom is about clauses, not the entire sentence.

My easy way of figuring who vs. whom is to revise the sentence using he/him - if you use he then who is appropriate, if you use him then whom is appropriate (of course this is a better trick for native speakers).

So here Serge began to wonder if he had listened. - so we would use who.
Becky
Master GMAT Instructor
The Princeton Review
Irvine, CA
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by varundaga05 » Wed May 26, 2010 2:51 pm
whats the answer
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by tpr-becky » Wed May 26, 2010 3:40 pm
The answer is covered under the black box but the answer is A.
Becky
Master GMAT Instructor
The Princeton Review
Irvine, CA
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by Haaress » Wed May 26, 2010 6:26 pm
Stacy, please address the how the two perfect forms play out in the same sentence.

Once the audience had filed out, Serge began to wonder who, if anyone, had listened to his long speech.

Thanks!
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by neerajbansal » Wed May 26, 2010 9:17 pm
How can we have (a) as answer when it has "had" in the sentence ?
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by paes » Wed May 26, 2010 9:34 pm
neerajbansal wrote:How can we have (a) as answer when it has "had" in the sentence ?
began to wonder : simple past
had listened : past perfect
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