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Kmlkz Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Of whom or of who?

So i was reading an article and i can across this : Only 16 made the cut, one of whom was Malaysian model Felixia Yeap.

altough it's the object of preposition, the pronoun 'whom' in this sentence is supposed to be functioning as a subject right? If i'm right, one of whom(...), is a noun clause, so, the object of preposition is the whole noun clause, not who(m).

The right sentence should be: one of who was(..)?

altough many seems to disagree with me: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080405105551AA954w0
  

Top answer

kmlkz Only 16 made the cut, one of whom was Malaysian model Felixia Yeap. "Whom" is correct. " There were six bottles in the box, one of which was broken.

— Avangi

  • kmlkz Only 16 made the cut, one of whom was Malaysian model Felixia Yeap.
  • "Whom" is correct.
  • " There were six bottles in the box, one of which was broken.
  • " You may be thinking of something like: The committee will serve under whoever is elected as president.
  • In this case, the whole clause is object of the preposition, and "whoever" is subject of the clause.
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9 Answers
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kmlkzOnly 16 made the cut, one of whom was Malaysian model Felixia Yeap.
"Whom" is correct. The subject of the clause is "one."

There were six bottles in the box, one of which was broken.

In the clause, the prepositional phrase "of which" modifies the subject "one."

It has nothing to do with the predicate, "was broken."
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kmlkzthe pronoun 'whom' in this sentence is supposed to be functioning as a subject right?
No. one is the subject of that clause. Given the choice between who and whom, if it stands after a preposition, it's always whom. End of story.
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CalifJim Given the choice between who and whom, if it stands after a preposition, it's always whom. End of story.
No epilogue?
Why does this bother me?

There was room for no one except who had been invited.

Is "except" an adverb here? Or a conjunction?

- Regards, - A.
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AvangiThere was room for no one except who had been invited.
Isn't this ungrammatical? Shouldn't that be except those who?

AvangiIs "except" an adverb here? Or a conjunction?
No idea, but it feels prepositional to me. When it comes to parts of speech, no matter what you say, someone else has a different
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CalifJimIsn't this ungrammatical? Shouldn't that be except those who?
I didn't think it was.
Of course it would be unquestionably correct with the addition of "those."

I always thought "He is who is to come" was strange. But I don't think it's ungrammatical.

You seem to be saying categorically that a "who" clause cannot be object of a p
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AvangiYou seem to be saying categorically that a "who" clause cannot be object of a preposition.
Yes, I believe I am. I think we gave up the use of who as a fused relative (i.e., in the meaning of whoever) not long after the writing of the King James Bible.
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Be careful with absolutes in anything, but especially in the English language. There are instances (remember prepositions may be stranded in English) where a preposition properly follows "who":

  1. He is the only person I know of who draws with charcoal.
  2. That is someone you can trust in who won't let you down.
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