0

I have met the next sentence in the English text:

Contemporary film directors, some of them write the scripts for, act in, and even produce their own motion pictures, are thereby assuming ever more control of their art.

The test answer says that word "them" incorrect. I do not get why it is so.

Does anybody have an explanation?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The string "Some of them write the scripts for, act in, and even produce their own motion pictures" is an independent clause. You can't just drop it into the middle of another independent clause "Contemporary film directors are thereby assuming ever more control of their art." You have to either coordinate the two clauses, by juxtaposition or conjunction ...

JUXTAPOSITION: Some contemporary film directors write the scripts for, act in, and even produce their own motion pictures. They are thereby assuming ever more control of their art.

CONJUNCTION: Some contemporary film directors write the scripts for, act in, and even produce their own motion pictures, and are thereby assuming ever more control of their art.

... or subordinate one to the other with a subordinating construction such as a relative clause:

Contemporary film directors, some of whom write the scripts for, act in, and even produce their own motion pictures, are thereby assuming ever more control of their art.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thank you for your full answer. But could you clarify the next moment. I have read, that "whom" is an "old-fashioned" word. Can we use "who" here instead? And if we can, is it correct that in any expression we can use "who" instead of "whom"?
    – arsast
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 8:49
  • 1
    @arsast Whom is now uncommon in spoken English, but my impression is that it is holding on longest with prepositions, as in of whom, with whom, &c. In any case, I recommend that you keep using it wherever it is traditionally required: that's still standard in formal contexts, and once it becomes second nature to you it will save you the trouble of worrying about whether to use it or not.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 12:08

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .