Another confusing relative pronouns

Question

Hello teachers!:D

I've been studying relative pronoun and found some of them really confusing!

Please explain why the answer should be an answer in each of the questions below.

Huge thanks in advance!!

1. Nathan Hale, ______ the British guard had found the maps of the British army's defence works, faced his enemy bravely.

I have no idea what this sentence means. I get the main clause is 'Nathan Hale faced his enemy bravely. ' But that's it. The choices are 'in whose boot' 'in which boot' 'whose boot' 'which boot'.

What is the answer and why?

2. This cook is ____ we dropped in the other day.

I put 'on whom' here but the answer is 'the one on whom'. Without any context, can you guess the answer?

3. He asked more than one elder for advice, ______ he hoped to make a wiser decision.

I see that both of the sentences(He~advice / he~decision) are perfect. So I just put 'which' in the blank but the answer is 'by which means'. Is the answer correct? I know 'by all means/ by what means' but haven't heard of 'by which means'.

4. He is my son, _____ a better son doesn't exist.

The answer here is 'than whom'. What is the original sentence of relative clause?

5. Finally I want to know the difference btw 'many of whose' and 'many whose'. Are there special usages for each of them?

Again Thanks a lot!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Ellisa1. Nathan Hale, __ the British guard had found the maps of the British army's defence works, faced his enemy bravely.
I have no idea what this sentence means. I get the main clause is 'Nathan Hale faced his enemy bravely. ' But that's it. The choices are 'in whose boot' 'in which boot' 'whose boot' 'which boot'.

The guard found the maps in his boot. "in his boot" becomes "in whose boot". Both "his" and "whose" are possessive forms, so you would naturally substitute one for the other.

Ellisa2. This cook is __ we dropped in the other day.
I put 'on whom' here but the answer is 'the one on whom'. Without any context, can you guess the answer?

You can guess the answer fairly well without the choices. Yes. A relative clause requires a noun or pronoun just before it. So you can't start the relative clause "on whom" right after the verb "is". "is on whom" is not a correct combination of words. You need to add the pronoun "one" first, then add the relative clause.

Ellisa3. He asked more than one elder for advice, __ he hoped to make a wiser decision.
I see that both of the sentences(He~advice / he~decision) are perfect. So I just put 'which' in the blank but the answer is 'by which means'. Is the answer correct? I know 'by all means/ by what means' but haven't heard of 'by which means'.

"by which means" is correct, and it substitutes for "by this means". Here this and which both go with the noun "means".

Ellisa4. He is my son, __ a better son doesn't exist.
The answer here is 'than whom'. What is the original sentence of relative clause?

A relative clause with "than" is a bit unusual, but possible. A better son than him does not exist. "than him" becomes "than whom" in the relative construction.

Ellisa5. Finally I want to know the difference btw 'many of whose' and 'many whose'. Are there special usages for each of them?

I don't see how "many whose" could be correct. Could you use it in a sentence to illustrate what you mean?

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Ellisa1. Nathan Hale, __ the British guard had found the maps of the British army's defence works, faced his enemy bravely.
I have no idea what this sentence means. I get the main clause is 'Nathan Hale faced his enemy bravely. ' But that's it. The choices are 'in whose boot' 'in which boot' 'whose boot' 'which boot'.
What is the answer and why?

Nathan Hale was a spy for the Americans against the British.
He had some secret maps (perhaps stolen) that showed where the British army was weak and where it was strong.
The British guard caught him and discovered that Nathan had hidden these maps in his boots.

In whose boots were the maps?

Ellisa2. This cook is __ we dropped in the other day.
I put 'on whom' here but the answer is 'the one on whom'. Without any context, can you guess the answer?

The first thing to think about is a phrasal verb.
"Drop in on" means to visit casually, without calling ahead of time.
We is the subject, so the relative pronoun must be the object of the verb. It has to complete this question:

On *** did we drop in the other day? (Answer: the cook.)
or
*** did we drop in on the other day? (Answer: the cook.)
The relative pronoun must be "who" because the cook is a person, and "who, whose, or whom" are relative pronouns for a person. Whom is the object case, so it fits the *** making the question:
On whom did we drop in the other day?
Whom did we drop in on the other day? (To me, this one is better.)

Next, you need a predicate pronoun or noun to follow "The cook is" like (somebody, someone, the person), because "whom" is in object case, and the noun following "be" must be subject case.

The cook is the person whom we dropped in on the other day. (Actually, this one is more natural.)

The cook is the person on whom we dropped in the other day.

Ellisa3. He asked more than one elder for advice, __ he hoped to make a wiser decision.

He asked more than one elder for advice. The relative pronoun has to refer to the idea in the entire sentence, not a single noun like "elder" or "advice"

The idea that follows is:

By doing that (= asking more than one elder), he hoped to make a wiser decision.
OR

By that means, he hoped to make a wiser decision.

This is OK as a separate sentence. "Which" is used in place of "that" as a relative pronoun so you can put the relative clause in the main sentence.
He asked more than one elder for advice, by which means he hoped to make a wiser decision.

Ellisa4. He is my son, __ a better son doesn't exist.
The answer here is 'than whom'. What is the original sentence of relative clause?

The answer does not make sense to me. I would normally say:
He is my son, and a better son than him does not exist.

Ellisa5. Finally I want to know the difference btw 'many of whose' and 'many whose'. Are there special usages for each of them?

Here are examples:

The team, many of whose (the team's) players live in my city, won the championship this year.
The assembly, many of whose (the assembly's) members are smokers, voted to make the meeting hall a smoke-free environment.

-------------

We don't know how many (people) whose homes were lost in the flood were living in the emergency shelters.

Many (people) whose first marriages ended in divorce have had a happy and successful second marriage.

Anonymous · Answer

1. Nathan Hale was a George Washington's army spy. He was able to steal away the enemy's secret maps, hide them in his boot but unfotunately was caught by the enemy guard and later hanged. Hence "in whose boot".

2. "This cook is the one on whom we dropped in the other day."

The "This cook is..." is incomplete and needs a complement "the one" to be a full-fledged copula.

3. The "by which means" = "with the help/use of which"

4. "He is my best son."

5. "...the difference btw 'many of whose' and "many whose":

'many of whose': here the pronnoun 'many' is in the object case;

'many whose': here the pronoun 'many is in the subject case.

Ellisa · Answer

Thanks a lot teacher!

Though your explanation contains some grammar terms, it was a big help!

Bless you!

Ellisa · Answer

Oh, I thought I could reply on each of the teachers!

Anyways thank you for your generous expanations really. ;DDDDDDDDD

Another confusing relative pronouns

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