Quiz created: 2023-10-23
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Who-Whom Quiz 2

Instructions: Answer the multiple choice questions, guessing if necessary; then click on the "Process Questions" button at the end of the quiz to see your score in the adjacent message box. The program will not reveal which questions you got wrong, only how many points you have. Go back and change your answers until you get them all right. (The message box will rejoice at that point and the page will change color to show it is tickled pink.)

Points to note: (1) Questions with only one possible answer are one point each. (2) Questions with one or more possible answers (represented by check boxes) give a point for each correct answer, but also subtract a point for each wrong answer! (3) The program will not attempt to score your efforts at all if you have not tried at least half of the questions. (4) This quiz is for your own use only. No record of your progress is kept or reported to anyone.

The objective (accusative) form “whom” is rapidly being displaced by the nominative form “who” is most sentences. It rarely leads to confusion, since English generally depends on word order rather than inflection to show case, but formal, especially written, English still makes the distinction. Although a subordinate clause as a whole can function as a subject or object or modifier, the structure of the subordinate clause itself, not how it is used, is what governs the cases of its constituent words . For example, “He gave brochures to whoever attended.” “Whoever” is the subject of “attended,” not the object of “to”; the object of “to” is the full clause “whoever attended.” Hence “whomever” would be inappropriate. “Ellen is the woman WHOM I met at work.” “Whom” is the object of “met”; the whole clause “whom I met at work” simply modifies “woman.” Some of the following writers got it right and some screwed it up. For each of the following quoted sentences select the “proper” form and the logic that makes it the correct choice. The abbreviation “SDUT” stands for San Diego Union-Tribune.
1. “He’s the quintessential example of someone WHO we immediately saw had talent —raw talent.” (2018-04-09-The New Yorker, p. 55)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “had.” 
Whom because it is in apposition with “someone,” the object of “of.” 
Whom because it is the object of “saw.” 
No Answer
2. “He [President Trump] took much of the credit for the diplomatic thaw on the Korean Peninsula, and he said he would not commit the mistakes of his predecessors, WHOM he said had showered the North with money and extracted nothing in return.” (2018-04-28, NYT, online)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “had showered.” 
Whom because it refers to “predecessors,” which is the object of “of.” 
Whom because it is the object of “he said.” 
No Answer
3. “Think of that: in these very dangerous times, we have the most qualified person, a woman, WHO Democrats want out because she is too tough on terror.” (Donald Trump in a tweet concerning his appointee to head the CIA, once associated with prisoner treatment later condemned as illegal.)
The word should be
Who to agreed with “she” in the next clause. 
Whom because it is the object of “want out. 
Whom to agree with “person,” the object of “have” 
No Answer
4. “It [the early election] also puts [Turkish] opposition parties, many of which haven’t yet decided WHO to put forward to challenge Erdogan, at a distinct disadvantage.” (2018-04-18-AP/SDUT-A3)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “put forward.” 
Who because it is the subject of “to challenge.” 
Whom because it is the object of “to challenge.” 
Whom because it is the object of “put forward.” 
Whom because it is the object of “decided.” 
No Answer
5. [Governor] Brown also vowed to continue the court fight over California laws that vastly limit WHOM state and local law enforcement agencies can hold, question, and transfer at the request of federal immigration authorities.”(2018-04-18-SDUT-A4 )
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “hold ….” 
Whom because it is the object of “limit.” 
Whom because it is the object of “hold ….” 
Whom because it is the object of “over.” 
No Answer
6. “We will work with WHOEVER the patient selects to make sure there is as smooth a transition as possible.” (Anonymous physician)
The word should be
Whoever because it is the subject of “selects.” 
Whomever because it is the object of “with.” 
Whomever because it is the object of “selects.” 
No Answer
7. “When you look at skinny teenagers, you never know WHO’s going to be fat by the time he’s sixty.” (Anonymous physician)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “is going to be.” 
Who because it is the subject of “know.” 
Whom because it is the object of “know.” 
No Answer
8. “My professional writing skills improved with the help from my advisor, WHOM would proofread, edit, and point out any areas that needed changing.” (Student paper)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “proofread, edit, and point out.” 
Whom because it is in apposition with “advisor,” the object of “from.” 
No Answer
9. “French butchers have written to the government asking for protection against militant vegans, WHOM they accuse of trying to kill off the country’s meat-eating culture by vandalizing butchers’ shops with anti-carnivore graffiti and stickers.” (2018-07-06-The World)
The word should be
Who because it is the subject of “kill.” 
Who because it is the subject of “vandalizing.” 
Who to agree with “butchers.” 
Whom because it is the object of “accuse.” 
Whom because it is in apposition with “vegans,” the object of “against.” 
No Answer

      Points out of 9:

Awesomeness
Score
Awesomeness Score: The following awesomeness score is a measure of how much guessing you did to get all items right. It is 100 if you got all questions right when you clicked the process button for the first time. It gets proportionately lower if it took more clicks, until it hits 0 if your clicks exceeded the number of questions.



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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of April 9, 2021.