gauravgundal wrote:The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia,
were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain
James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly
because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their

(D) who so named them supposedly because their


Answer is D

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

gauravgundal wrote:The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia,
were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain
James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly
because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their

(D) who so named them supposedly because their


Answer is D

Hi,

the usage of whom that you've suggested is correct, but, as Rishikesh points out, (B) has other serious issues.

If the sentence had simply ended "by whom they were supposedly named.", it would be grammatically correct (and the use of supposedly would imply that it's not certain that Cook named them).

vjcongmt wrote:

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

gauravgundal wrote:The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia,
were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain
James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly
because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their

(D) who so named them supposedly because their


Answer is D

Hi,

the usage of whom that you've suggested is correct, but, as Rishikesh points out, (B) has other serious issues.

If the sentence had simply ended "by whom they were supposedly named.", it would be grammatically correct (and the use of supposedly would imply that it's not certain that Cook named them).

Hi Stuart,

but the whom here refers to the subject (James cook actually named the mountains, so as the doer of the action named, he is the subject of the relative clause) so in this case why is whom correct ?

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Hi!

A great way to determine whether to use "whom" or "who" is to turn the sentence into a question and answer it with "he" or "him".

For example, for (B) we'd ask "by whom were the mountains named?" We'd answer: "they were named by HIM"; since we use "him", "whom" is correct.

For (D) we'd ask "who named them?" We'd answer: "HE did." Since we answer with "he", "who" is correct.

Anytime who/whom follows a preposition (of whom, by whom, for whom, on whom, against whom...), "whom" will be the correct usage.

vjcongmt wrote:

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

gauravgundal wrote:The Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia,
were sighted in 1770 by the English navigator Captain
James Cook, by whom they were named supposedly
because its sheer wet rocks glistened like glass.

(B) by whom they were named supposedly and their

(D) who so named them supposedly because their


Answer is D

Hi,

the usage of whom that you've suggested is correct, but, as Rishikesh points out, (B) has other serious issues.

If the sentence had simply ended "by whom they were supposedly named.", it would be grammatically correct (and the use of supposedly would imply that it's not certain that Cook named them).

Hi Stuart,

but the whom here refers to the subject (James cook actually named the mountains, so as the doer of the action named, he is the subject of the relative clause) so in this case why is whom correct ?