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Guerrilla Tactics for the GMAT™*:

Secrets and Strategies the Test Writers

Don’t Want You to Know

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Guerrilla Tactics for the GMAT

Sample 1: Table of Contents
Sample 2: Who vs. Whom
Sample 3: Rates and Distances
Sample 4: Lie vs. Lay

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A Common GMAT Trap: Who vs. Whom

From a grammatical standpoint, the difference between who/whom and whoever/whomever is surprisingly simple:

Who and whoever are subjective pronouns, which means they are the subjects of a phrase or sentence:

Who dropped the dish? (subject)
Whoever wins the race deserves the medal. (subject)

In contrast, whom and whomever are objective pronouns, which are the objects in a phrase or sentence:

For whom the bell tolls.... (object of the preposition for)
Whom did Janice invite to the prom? (object of the verb invite)

Ironically, many students have trouble with whom/whomever because the words are often used incorrectly in verbal English. As a result, they "sound wrong" when they appear on stanardized tests like hte GMAT.

A Handy Test: If you are not certain which pronoun is correct (who or whom), just substitute the personal pronoun he/him or she/her for the word in question:

1. If he/she is correct, the proper choice is who
2. If him/her is correct, the proper choice is whom

Examples:

Grace traveled with a client whom she met at a convention. (Grace met him at the convention.)
Greg is the candidate who got the promotion. (He got the promotion.)
Who is going to the mall? (She is going.)

Now, let's look at the tricky ways the GMAT writers will test this concept:

Example 1: Bethany offered the rich dessert to whoever she wanted.

(A) Bethany offered the rich dessert to whoever she wanted.
(B) Bethany offered the rich dessert to whomever she wanted.
(C) Bethany offered whoever the rich dessert, as she wanted.
(D) Bethany offered everyone the rich dessert, simply because she wanted.
(E) Bethany offered whomever she wanted the rich dessert.

Solution: When you see the words who/whom or whoever/whomever in a prepositional clause, you can determine which one is correct from the word's function in the sentence. The words who and whoever are subjects, while the words whom and whomever are objects.

In this sentence, the word whoever (which is a subject) is incorrectly used as an object of the preposition to. The word whomever should be used instead. Answer choice B is correct.

Example 2. Bethany offered the rich dessert to whomever finished the tuna casserole.

(A) Bethany offered the rich dessert to whomever finished the tuna casserole.
(B) Bethany offered whomever finished the tuna casserole the rich dessert.
(C) Bethany offered the rich dessert to whoever finished the tuna casserole.
(D) Bethany offered whoever finished the tuna casserole a chance to eat the rich dessert.
(E) Bethany offered the tuna casserole and rich dessert to whomever could finish them.

Solution: This question is the flip side of Example 1. To determine whether whoever or whomever should
be used, we must consider the entire clause after the preposition “to.” In this case, the subject of
the clause is whomever and the verb is finished. But the word whomever is incorrect, because it
is an object, rather than a subject. Choice C is correct. The correct wording of the sentence
should be: Bethany offered the rich dessert to whoever finished the tuna casserole.

Want to learn more? To order the 200-page electronic version (Wordpad Rich Text Format) of Guerrilla Tactics for the GMAT™*: Secrets and Strategies the Test Writers Don’t Want You to Know for $12.99, please click here. Once you pay, you can download the guide immediately.

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