Bunuel wrote:
A groundbreaking neuro-psychological research was conducted on epilepsy patients,
whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that memories of past events are stored in the same neurons in the brain which were active during the original experience.
A. whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that
B. whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and has discovered that
C. whose brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that
D. using data from the regular monitoring of their neural activity to establish that
E. using data from the regularly monitoring of their neural activity to establish
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
A groundbreaking neuro-psychological research was conducted on epilepsy patients, whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that memories of past events are stored in the same neurons in the brain which were active during the original experience.A. whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that
This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. Whom is a relative pronoun describing humans who are the object of the relative clause. This relative clause has no object. It consists of a subject (the brains' neural activity) and a verb (is monitored) only. The relationship between the epilepsy patients and this relative clause is one of possession, since it is their brains' activity which is being monitored. The relative pronoun used to describe a relationship of possession is whose.
What helps us identify this question as a Relative Clause question as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:
who, which, that, whose, whom
This answer choice includes another grammatical error. The plural verb have does not agree with the singular subject research.
What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question as well as identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:
A long complex subject / a long distance between the subject and the verb
B. whom brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and has discovered that
Although this answer choice corrects one of the original mistakes, it repeats the other and is still grammatically incorrect. Whom is a relative pronoun describing humans who are the object of the relative clause. This relative clause has no object. It consists of a subject (the brains' neural activity) and a verb (is monitored) only. The relationship between the epilepsy patients and this relative clause is one of possession, since it is their brains' activity which is being monitored. The relative pronoun used to describe a relationship of possession is whose.
What helps us identify this question as a Relative Clause question as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:
who, which, that, whose, whom
C. whose brains' neural activity is regularly monitored, and have discovered that
Although this answer choice corrects one of the original mistakes, it repeats the other and is still grammatically incorrect. The plural verb have does not agree with the singular subject research.
What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:
A long complex subject / a long distance between the subject and the verb
D. using data from the regular monitoring of their neural activity to establish that
This answer choice is the only grammatically correct answer choice. E. using data from the regularly monitoring of their neural activity to establish
Although monitoring can indeed serve as a verb (e.g., X is monitoring Y), in this case it can be clearly identified as a noun thanks to the article which precedes it - the. Since an adverb (regularly) cannot modify a noun, the phrase the regularly monitoring is grammatially incorrect.