|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Ask for help > help please
help please
|
metcet20
|
help please
|
|
Hello everybody!
Who were/was these pictures painted by?
Is it was as the agent is singular
Is it were as pictures are plural
Thanks in advance |
17 Jul 2013
|
|
|
|
korova-daisy
|
|
The right variant is "Who were these pictures painted by?" as the subject "pictures" is in plural.
|
17 Jul 2013
|
|
|
MoodyMoody
|
|
korova-daisy is exactly right; the word "pictures" is the subject of the sentence. This question is in the passive mood, meaning that the agent is not the grammatical subject. Grammar purists would probably prefer, "By whom were these pictures painted?" This avoids a preposition at the end of the sentence and emphasizes that who/whom is really the object of the preposition "by." Most people aren �t such sticklers; "Who were these pictures painted by?" is perfectly acceptable in most situations. |
17 Jul 2013
|
|
|
kewayzey
|
|
I think the subject is "pictures" (a plural), therefore "were" should be used. However, shouldn �t "Who" be replaced with "Whom"? "Whom" should probably be used as the question refers to the object which is the painter, and not the subject which are the pictures. |
18 Jul 2013
|
|
|
douglas
|
|
Personally I don �t teach "whom"--it is a dying term and in most circles "who" has become acceptable for both subject and object. |
18 Jul 2013
|
|
|
kewayzey
|
Thank you, that �s good to know.  |
18 Jul 2013
|
|
|
almaz
|
|
I �d agree with Douglas. There are very few occasions - particularly in speech - where whom doesn �t come across as affected or grotesquely formal (although, in a formal written context, the man to whom I gave the letter would obviously be preferable to *the man to who I gave the letter).
And talking of putting a preposition at the end of a sentence ( �preposition stranding �), only a person who has an incomplete or twisted understanding of English syntax and usage would condemn it out of hand. Even HW Fowler (no mad descriptivist he) referred to the notion that it was an error as a "cherished superstition". |
18 Jul 2013
|
|
|
