"many of whom" is not a subject pronoun; it's a relative pronoun. it has EXACTLY the same grammar as plural "which".
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A. Chinese, the most ancient of living writing systems, consists of tens of thousands of ideographic characters, each character a miniature calligraphic composition inside its own square frame.

B. Chinese, the most ancient of living writing systems, consists of tens of thousands of ideographic characters, each of which IS a miniature calligraphic composition inside its own square frame.

1. Are both of the above sentences correct? In sentence A, the only verb that it's acceptable to omit is a form of "to be" (is, are, were, was, etc.). If we add a verb IS , then "each character is "... will make the sentence a RUN-ON . Also, the part "each character ..." is an appositive? Also, is there any difference between an appositive and a resumptive modifier?

2. Also, if the sentence has which then we can't omit the verb.

3.A Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items, some of which were worth hundreds of dollars.
3.B Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items, some of them were worth hundreds of dollars.

Are both the above sentences correct and convey the same meaning?

4. Laos has a land area that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area, but in Laos with a population of only four million people, many of them are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north. -- here the part after COMMA+ but should be an independent clause ? Is there a parallelism issue here?


AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , sayantanc2k, RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert ,ccooley ,GMATNinjaTwo , other experts -- please enlighten.

Hi Skywalker,

1.
(a) Yes, both seem fine.
(b) The each character a miniature calligraphic composition inside its own square frame bit is an absolute phrase (see here).
(c) If we go with each character is, we'll get a comma splice.
(d) An appositive involves a noun. A resumptive involves repetition of an element of the sentence (not necessarily a noun).

2.
(a) Both sentences seem fine.
(b) Yes, with some of which we cannot omit the verb.

3.
(a) No parallelism error that I can see. Let me know if there is something specific that has caught your eye.
(b) The part after but is an independent clause (many of them are members of hill tribes). The in Laos with a population of only four million people bit is only a modifier.

Hope this helps