Unit 5 Music

•an actor with whom gelson had previously worked contacted him about the role.
•her many friends, among whom i like to be considered, gave her encouragement.
notice that after a preposition you can’t use who in place of whom, and you can’t use that or zero relative pronoun either:
•is it right that politicians should make important decisions without consulting the public to whom they are accountable? (not --- the public to who they are accountable.)
•the valley in which the town lies is heavily polluted. (not --- the valley in that the town...)
•arnold tried to gauge the speed at which they were traveling. (not --- the speed at they were traveling.)
in informal english we usually put the preposition at the end in attributive clauses rather than at the beginning:
•the office which graham led the way to was filled with books.
•jim’s footballing ability, which he was noted for, had been encouraged by his parents.
•the playground wasn’t used by those children who it was built for.
in this case we prefer who rather than whom (although whom is used in formal contexts). in restrictive attributive clauses we can also use that or zero relative pronoun instead of who or which (e.g. ...the children (that) it was built for).
if the verb in attributive clauses is a two-or-three-word verb (e.g. come across, fill in, go through, look after, look up to, put up with, take on) we don’t usually put the preposition at the beginning:
• your essay is one of those (which/that) i’ll go through tomorrow. (rather than...through which i’ll go tomorrow.)
• she is one of the few people (who/that) i look up to. (not ... to whom i look up.)
in formal written english, we often prefer to use of which rather than whose to talk about things:
•a huge amount of oil was spilled, the effects of which are still being felt. (or...whose effects are still being felt.)
•the end of the war, the anniversary of which is on the 16th of november, will be commemorated in cities throughout the country. (or...whose anniversary is on...)
note that we can’t use of which in place of whose in the patterns described in unit 71b:
•dorothy was able to switch between german, polish and russian, all of which she spoke fluently. (not..,all whose she spoke...)
we can sometimes use that...of in place of of which. this is less formal than of which and whose, and is mainly used in spoken english:
•the school that she is head of is closing down. (or the school of which she is head...)