He had thousands of students, many of _a_ gained great success in their own field.
a. whom b. them c. which d. who

I was thinking about both A and B,

can anyone explain how to properly use ‘whom’ , 'who' , 'which', 'that' in a sentence? Thanks!

Antworten

LGrace

6 Mär 2020

Favorisierte Antwort

Englisch (US)

It would be A. Whom

You could use “them” only if it was made into a separate sentence.

For example: “He had thousands of students. Many of them gained great success in their own field.”

However, if you want it to be all one sentence, it has to be “whom.”

**********

Who versus Whom:

• Who should be used to refer to the subject of a sentence.

• Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition.

Try substituting “he” or “she” and “him” or “her.” If “he” or “she” fits, you should use who. If “him” or “her” fits, you should use whom.

Example:

1. “Who/whom ate my food?”

Try substituting “she” or “her”

She ate my food. ✅
Her ate my food.

“She” works and “her” doesn’t. That means the word you want is who.

“Who ate my food?” ✅

2. “Who/whom should I talk to about this?”

I should talk to he. ❌
I should talk to him. ✅

“Him” works and “he” doesn’t. So you should use “whom.”

“Whom should I talk to about this?” ✅

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LGrace

6 Mär 2020

Englisch (US)

It would be A. Whom

You could use “them” only if it was made into a separate sentence.

For example: “He had thousands of students. Many of them gained great success in their own field.”

However, if you want it to be all one sentence, it has to be “whom.”

**********

Who versus Whom:

• Who should be used to refer to the subject of a sentence.

• Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition.

Try substituting “he” or “she” and “him” or “her.” If “he” or “she” fits, you should use who. If “him” or “her” fits, you should use whom.

Example:

1. “Who/whom ate my food?”

Try substituting “she” or “her”

She ate my food. ✅
Her ate my food.

“She” works and “her” doesn’t. That means the word you want is who.

“Who ate my food?” ✅

2. “Who/whom should I talk to about this?”

I should talk to he. ❌
I should talk to him. ✅

“Him” works and “he” doesn’t. So you should use “whom.”

“Whom should I talk to about this?” ✅

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-shuya-

8 Mär 2020

Vereinfachtes Chinesisch (China)

@LGrace Very clear, thank you so much！！What about “which”and “that”？
For example: 1) She says she will never forget the time ( ) she spent working as a secretary in our company.
2) He remembers ( ) one secret ( ) he will never tell anyone.
3) She may be late, in ( ) case we ought to wait for her.
Questions like these are very confusing, sometimes which and that can be replaced by one another but how do I specifically know when to use which or that in a sentence?

LGrace

8 Mär 2020

Englisch (US)

@-shuya- there’s a trick for this, too! I’ll try to explain it clearly, because it can be a little confusing.

• For defining clauses, use “that”
• For non-defining clashes, use “which”

What does that mean?

• A defining clause adds ESSENTIAL information. The sentence would not be complete without it.

• A non-defining clause adds EXTRA (not essential) information. You could remove it completely and the sentence would still make sense.

So...

“That” = defining clause = adds essential information

“Which” = non-defining clause = adds extra, non essential information

Example:

1. “The car _ I crashed last night is with the mechanic.”

Here, you would use “that” because the clause “that I crashed” is ESSENTIAL information. Without it, you would not know all of the important information. You would think it was a normal car, instead of one that was crashed.

2. “The car, _ is red, is in the garage.”

Here, you would use “which,” because you could remove the phrase “which is red” and no important information is being removed.

Tip: If the class is separated by two commas, use “which”

Example:

The car, , is red.
The boy, ___, went to the doctor.

See how the phrase is in between two commas? For these, use “which”

So, for your sentences:

1. She says she will never forget the time that she spent working as a secretary in our company.

2. He remembers that one secret that he will never tell anyone.

3. She may be late, in which case, we ought to wait for her.

*****

Don’t worry! Many English speakers struggle with this, too. People won’t mind if you mix them up. Many people won’t even notice!

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-shuya-

8 Mär 2020

Vereinfachtes Chinesisch (China)

It is confusing. Except for the comma rule, can “ that” be replaced by “which” in sentences without commas like my examples 1 & 2 ？

1) She says she will never forget the time that she spent working as a secretary in our company.

Personally think the main part of the sentence is “She says she will never forget the time.” So the later part of the sentence is supplement of “the time”, therefore “that” can be replaced by “which”

2) He remembers that one secret that he will never tell anyone.

The first “that”can be omitted here and the main part would be “He remembers one secret.” “that” can be replaced by “which”

Am I correct？

LGrace

9 Mär 2020

Englisch (US)

@-shuya- sorry this took so long! I was out today.

1.) No, you would have to use “that” here. If you just say “She will never forget the time,” then no one will know what time you are talking about. What time won’t she forget? The sentence loses its meaning when you remove it.

2). You would have to remove the entire clause, not just the one word. So, you wouldn’t remove “that,” you would remove “that one secret” Because that is the defining clause.

If you remove “that one secret” then the sentence becomes “He remembers that he will never tell anyone.” This doesn’t really make sense. So, you would have to use “that” because the phrase “that one secret” is ESSENTIAL in understanding the meaning of the sentence.

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-shuya-

12 Mär 2020

Vereinfachtes Chinesisch (China)

@LGrace Thank you again for your explanation ! For this question I've asked many people about it yet it's still very controversial, you've helped a lot !
Can "that" be omitted in a situation when it doesn't affect the meaning of a sentence?