<p>Question from last yr's test with just a few words changed in case I am not allowed to post identical question is:
At least one class in mathematics is recommended for them who plan to become statisticians, because they will often need to decide whether information based on statistics is dependable.</p>
<p>Words "them", "to become", "based on", and "is dependable" were underlined. Which word(s) is incorrect and MOST IMPORTANTLY, can you please elaborate exactly why?</p>
<p>“Them” should be “those.” In the clause “XXX who plan to become statisticians,” XXX is the subject, not the object, so “them” is definitely not right. “Those” is short for “those people,” or similar, and acts as the subject of the clause. (I suppose “they” would serve the same purpose, but no one would speak or write that.)</p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>Can you post the exact question?
I would choose “them”. Do you know the answer?</p>
<p>Daisie is correct, for the reasons she stated. “Them” is incorrect, as it is an object pronoun. The word “those” is correct, as it is a subject pronoun.</p>
<p>A simple test in this situation is to reduce the clause to a sentence. You would not say “Them [people] plan to become statisticians,” but you would say “Those [people] plan to become statisticians.”</p>
<p>To Jeffrey, actually I was careful to only replace words which would have NO effect on the sentence (like I replaced the word statistics with mathematics) - as I am not legally versed in copyright laws, I thought it best not to repost exactly. If I am allowed to, please someone let me know.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your quick replies.</p>
<p>However, why does the addition of the “who plan…dependable.” change anything since the sentence “At least one class in mathematics is recommended for them.” seems correct to me?</p>
<p>Also, as Daisie writes above, I agree that who is the subject of the second clause; however, I fail to see how that implies that them should also be in the subjective case. I am fairly certain that words (who) do not have to be in the same case as their antecedents (them).</p>
<p>Again, thank you for all of your help.</p>