Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The man ____ you met at the party was a famous film star.
(a)whom
(b)when
(c)where
(d)which

Answer 1

Hint: Read the sentence and try to guess what it is trying to convey. Now go through the given options and choose the one which helps in expressing the context of the given sentence. You can use the hit and trial method too.

Complete answer: Interrogative words or ‘Wh’ words are used to indicate questions and relative clauses. The different ‘wh’ words are; whom, which, who, what, when, where, etc.
Let’s look at the functions of different ‘wh’ words-
(i)Whom- ‘Whom’ acts like an object in an interrogative sentence. It is used to ask questions about people. For example- Whom should I speak to?
(ii)When- ‘When’ is used to indicate the time. It is used to ask questions related to the occurrence of an action. For example- When will we visit the zoo?
(iii)Where- ‘Where’ is used to indicate a place. It is used to ask questions related to the location or whereabouts of a place. For example- Where is your house?
(iv)‘Which’ is used to indicate the specific thing or person out of the given choices. For example- Which house is yours?
In the given question- We can conclude that ‘the man’ is the object of the verb ‘met’. Hence, we will use the relative pronoun ‘whom’ to modify the object of the verb.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘Whom’ is the correct option because it is used to indicate questions about people.
Option b- ‘When’ is an incorrect option because it is used to indicate questions about time.
Option c- ‘Where’ is an incorrect option because it is used to indicate questions about a place.
Option d- ‘Which’ is an incorrect option because it is also used to indicate objects.
The correct answer is Option ‘a’.
Note: Keep in mind, we only use the relative pronouns ‘who, whom, that and whose’ for people. Also, ‘whom’ cannot be used without the use of an object in the sentence.