Bunuel
It ought to be
her with whom you share your secrets, not me.A. her with whom you share your secrets, not me
B. her with whom you share your secrets, not I.
C. she with whom you share your secrets, not me.
D. she with whom you share your secrets, not I.
E. her with who you share your secrets, not me.
Project SC Butler
For SC butler Questions Click HereIt is a fascinating question. Thank you for providing it.
Even now I cannot be sure about the answer. Look forward to the final answer.
In my opinion, this question tests a famous construction "It is__that," but the word "that" is replaced with a less common word "whom."
a. It is X that do something: X is the the subject
b. It is Y that Z do something to/on/with: Y is the object of the verb/action of Z
Examples:
a. It is the board of directors that make the final decision, not the CEO.
a. It is they (board of members) that make the final decision, not he (CEO).
b. It was Alex that I contacted yesterday, not Alice.
b. It was him that I contacted yesterday, not her.
Given this pattern, I might choose (A) for the final answer. But I am not very sure.
In two cases we need to use object pronouns: when the pronoun is affected by the verb, or is following a preposition.
Here, I think both "her" and "me" are affected by the verb "
share secrets with," only the structure "It is__that" makes the relation less clear.
If this question were rewritten as following, the relation would be more clear:
It should be her that you share your secrets with, not me.But formal English does not prefer a sentence to end with a preposition, so the sentence needs to be revised back to "
It should be her with that/whom you share your secrets with, not me."
If the correct answer is not (A), it would be good too--I could learn more about the use.