Great rule, thanks!Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Who refers to the subject of a sentence; whom refers to the object of a sentence.
For example:
(1) The person who is walking in front of me is really slow.
or
(2) The person to whom I'm speaking is hard of hearing.
A simple test you can use to decide on who vs whom is to turn the sentence into a question and answer it with a pronoun. If you answer with he or she, then who is correct; if you answer with him or her, then whom is correct.
Looking back at the two examples above:
(1) Who is walking in front of me? He is (so who is correct).
(2) To whom am I speaking? I'm speaking to him (so whom is correct).
It's because of the idiomatic phrase "many of them".Koala wrote:
Great rule, thanks!
However, could you tell why then the answer to th following is the one with "whom" :
Elderly patients, many who take expensive brand-name medications daily, could reduce their medical costs by switching to generic drugs and making lifestyle changes.
A) many who
B) many of them who
C) and many of them who
D) many of whom
E) many of which
If we apply your rule, we should ask the question : who are people who toake expensive brand-name mediactions daily?
The answer to the question should be (unless I'm wrong) They are.
Stuart Kovinsky wrote:It's because of the idiomatic phrase "many of them".Koala wrote:
Great rule, thanks!
However, could you tell why then the answer to th following is the one with "whom" :
Elderly patients, many who take expensive brand-name medications daily, could reduce their medical costs by switching to generic drugs and making lifestyle changes.
A) many who
B) many of them who
C) and many of them who
D) many of whom
E) many of which
If we apply your rule, we should ask the question : who are people who toake expensive brand-name mediactions daily?
The answer to the question should be (unless I'm wrong) They are.
You're correct that we can answer the question "who takes it" with "they do". However, we can also answer the question with "many of them do" - we wouldn't say "many of they do". Since we say "many of them", we also say "many of whom".
Hi,gmat1978 wrote:Can you please help with the following question:
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
If I ask the question - Who are presenting at the seminar - the answer would be "they (presenters) are". In this case, can we not use "one who" as the answer choice. Should I be using "many of them" idiomatic phrase in this scenario? If so then the answer would be "many of them (presenters) are presenting".
Looking at both the possible answers - "they (presenters) are presenting" and "many of them (presenters) are presenting" - can you please tell me what answer should I pick in what scenario.
Also, can you please explain why answer choice b is wrong.
Thanks
Hi Stuart,Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Hi,gmat1978 wrote:Can you please help with the following question:
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
If I ask the question - Who are presenting at the seminar - the answer would be "they (presenters) are". In this case, can we not use "one who" as the answer choice. Should I be using "many of them" idiomatic phrase in this scenario? If so then the answer would be "many of them (presenters) are presenting".
Looking at both the possible answers - "they (presenters) are presenting" and "many of them (presenters) are presenting" - can you please tell me what answer should I pick in what scenario.
Also, can you please explain why answer choice b is wrong.
Thanks
"one who is" definitely sounds weird in this sentence; idiomatically, we should say "one of whom is" instead.
The main problem with "one" is that it doesn't agree with "presenters"; one what? On the other hand, "one OF whom" refers properly back to the group.
"one of them who is blind" contains way more words than necessary - a GMAT no-no. It also just sounds very awkward.
Hi!kapoor.divs wrote:Hi Stuart,
So, does this mean that this question is an exception to the him/he rule?
Is there any way of recognizing such exceptions?
Thanks
Regards,
Divya
Hi,Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Hi!kapoor.divs wrote:Hi Stuart,
So, does this mean that this question is an exception to the him/he rule?
Is there any way of recognizing such exceptions?
Thanks
Regards,
Divya
Not at all - we'd say "one of them is blind", not "one of they is blind"; since you'd use "them" over "they", you know to use "whom" over "who".
Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Hi!kapoor.divs wrote:Hi Stuart,
So, does this mean that this question is an exception to the him/he rule?
Is there any way of recognizing such exceptions?
Thanks
Regards,
Divya
Not at all - we'd say "one of them is blind", not "one of they is blind"; since you'd use "them" over "they", you know to use "whom" over "who".
