Help! REALLY tricky SAT writing question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>The Question: He interviewed several candidates who he thought had the experience and qualifications he required.</p>

<p>The correct answer for this question was to substitute the underlined by using "who he thought"</p>

<p>I am really confused by this. </p>

<p>Isnt the person the "who" is referring to the candidates? and isnt Candidates the object of the sentence (since "he" is doing the action)?</p>

<p>I thought object=whom</p>

<p>The explanation at the back of the book says the following: Choice A is correct because the subject of the verb "had" must be "who," not whom.</p>

<p>Can someone explain..</p>

2

<p>Actually, the phrase in question is “several candidates who had the experience,” not “several candidates who he thought.” Therefore “candidates” and “had” are the subject and verb, not “he” and “thought.”</p>

<p>You would say “he thought they had the experience” (subjective case), not “he thought them had the experience” (objective case).</p>

<p>This is a difficult question. I probably would have missed it on the SAT for the same reason you did.</p>