Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind, will demonstrate adaptive

The question of whether to use "who" or "whom" isn't determined by what noun the pronoun refers to, but rather by the grammatical role the pronoun plays.

If the word is a subject (the "doer" of an action), we use "who." If the word is an object (the recipient of an action) we use "whom." For example, "My wife, who is extremely kind and generous, volunteers every Monday at a homeless shelter." Here, "who" is the subject of the verb "is."

But I could also write, "My wife, to whom I send flowers every day, is a wonderful person." In that last sentence, my wife is the object of the preposition, so she "receives" the action (sending flowers) -- and as a result, we'd need to use "whom" and not "who".

In (D) "whom" is the object of the preposition "of," so it's correct. In (B) "one of them who" is just plain bad. Why would we use back-to-back pronouns? Is "who" referring to "them?" To "one"? It's unnecessarily clunky and confusing.

I hope that helps!

D) Presenters at the seminar, one of whom is blind, will demonstrate adaptive equipment that allows visually impaired people to use computers.

Hi pi10t,

Thank you for your question. This is classic case of a "who vs. whom" sentence, so let's look at each answer and if they are conveying the proper meaning:

Presenters at the seminar, one who is blind, will demonstrate adaptive equipment that allows visually impaired people to use computers.

(A) one who
By using "who," it now refers back to the word "seminar" and not to the presenters. The seminar can't be blind, so this is INCORRECT.

(B) one of them who
Again, by using "who," it refers back to the seminar being blind. It also adds in a vague pronoun "them" with no clear antecedent. Therefore, this one is also INCORRECT.

(C) and one of them who
This is the same answer as B, but with the word "and" added in. That doesn't fix the problems with who/whom or the vague pronoun "them," so it's INCORRECT.

(D) one of whom
This is the CORRECT answer because by using "whom," it's clear the phrase is referring back to one of the presenters being blind, not one of the seminars.

(E) one of which
This is INCORRECT because in the GMAT, one should never use "which" to refer to people - only animals or objects.

The question of whether to use "who" or "whom" isn't determined by what noun the pronoun refers to, but rather by the grammatical role the pronoun plays.

If the word is a subject (the "doer" of an action), we use "who." If the word is an object (the recipient of an action) we use "whom." For example, "My wife, who is extremely kind and generous, volunteers every Monday at a homeless shelter." Here, "who" is the subject of the verb "is."

But I could also write, "My wife, to whom I send flowers every day, is a wonderful person." In that last sentence, my wife is the object of the preposition, so she "receives" the action (sending flowers) -- and as a result, we'd need to use "whom" and not "who".

In (D) "whom" is the object of the preposition "of," so it's correct. In (B) "one of them who" is just plain bad. Why would we use back-to-back pronouns? Is "who" referring to "them?" To "one"? It's unnecessarily clunky and confusing.

I hope that helps!

Hi GMATNinja ,
Can you please clear my doubt.?

If the word is a subject (the "doer" of an action), we use "who." If the word is an object (the recipient of an action) we use "whom."

As per the sentence - 'the presenters' is the subject and 'will demonstrate' is the verb that is the presenters are doer of the action .
However, we are still using whom. Why