Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

He was asked to nominate a director whomever he thought had contributed most to the organization.

  1. whomever he thought had contributed most to the organization.

  2. whomsoever he thought had contributed most to the organization.

  3. whoever he thought was contributing most to the organization.

  4. whoever he thought had contributed most to the organization.

  5. who he thought had contributed the most to the organization.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): The sentence has error of relative pronoun. When there is direct involvement in the action, relative pronoun 'whoever' should be used. He was assigned to choose a person as director, who had contributed most to the organization.

Explanation for (2):  The option does not rectify the error of relative pronoun. It only replaces 'whom' by 'whomsoever' which is an emphatic pronoun.

Explanation for (3): The option rectifies the error of relative pronoun but introduces another error of tense ('was contributing' in place of 'had contributed').
Justification for (4): When there is direct involvement in the action, relative pronoun 'who' should be used. He was assigned to choose a person as director, who had contributed most to the organization. This option corrects the error of relative pronoun by replacing 'whomever' by 'whoever'. Explanation for (5): Use of 'who' is not entirely incorrect but it fails to emphasize anyone who has contributed. So, the correct expression is 'whoever'.

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