In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank. As a result of Covid-19, the quick (1) ______ to digital training has exposed the hazards of student disengagement and the resulting consequences of lower student performance across (2) ______ courses. The latest (3) ______ has altered the education of millions of people around the world. New approaches and improvements in the school system are urgently required. Considering the increasing digital divide, the strategy may exacerbate existing inequality disparities. More than 500 million students, at various levels, around the world were forced to (4) _______ their studies. These changes have caused and will continue to cause some inconvenience, but they will also foster innovation and future reforms inside this education system. During a global Covid-19 pandemic, the 'pile-on effect' of the coronavirus can have long-term consequences for schooling, notably for the most vulnerable. Children, (5) ________ basic, core learning (reading, math, languages, etc.) was weak to begin with, face a significant risk of regression. During Covid-19, millions of children whose right to education has already been violated, particularly girls, are exposed to greater health and well-being hazards (both psychosocial and physical).
Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 5.
- (a)whom
- (b)whose
- (c)who
- (d)which
Answer
Why
Correct — B. What follows the blank is a noun phrase — 'basic, core learning' — with no article and no verb after the relative word.
Only one relative word can sit directly in front of a noun and still tie it back to Children: the possessive whose.
The learning belongs to the children — children whose basic, core learning was weak to begin with — so option (b) fills the blank.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)whom — whom is the object form and must be the object of a verb or a preposition, as in 'children whom we taught'. It cannot stand before a noun as a possessor.
- (c)who — who is the subject relative and needs a verb straight after it, as in 'children who were weak'. Here a noun follows, so the slot is not a subject slot.
- (d)which — which refers to things rather than people, and it carries no possessive sense. It cannot link 'learning' to the children who own it.
Concept
Relative pronouns divide by two questions: who or what they refer to, and what job they do in their own clause.
Who is the subject form for people. Whom is the object form. Which is for things. Whose is the only possessive relative in English, and it works for people and for things alike.
The mechanical test is what comes next. Whose is followed by a noun, who by a verb, whom by a subject and verb. Apply that test and this blank answers itself without reading for meaning.
The commas make this a non-defining clause, which reads oddly for a claim that is true only of some children. That is the paper's own punctuation and it does not change which relative word is needed.
Key facts
- Whose is the only possessive relative pronoun in English.
- Whose can refer to things as well as to people.
- Who is followed by a verb, whose by a noun.
- Whom is the object form and follows a verb or a preposition.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing 'whom' because it sounds more formal and therefore safer.
- Choosing 'who' without noticing that a noun, not a verb, follows the blank.
Pronoun case turns up in this shift in more than one set of clothes.
Here it is the relative pronoun in a cloze, and at 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.19 it is a personal pronoun planted in a divided sentence.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.