In the following question, find out which part of the sentence has an error.…
2023
In the following question, find out which part of the sentence has an error. If there is no mistake the answer is 'no error'.
May I know (1)/ who you want(2)/ to see(3)/ please.(4) / No error(5)
- A.
1
- B.
2
- C.
3
- D.
4
- E.
No error
Attempted by 8 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Relative/interrogative pronouns take different case forms depending on their grammatical role: 'who' is the subjective-case form, used when the pronoun is the SUBJECT of a verb (the one performing the action), while 'whom' is the objective-case form, used when the pronoun is the OBJECT of a verb or preposition (the one receiving the action).
In the sentence 'May I know who you want to see, please,' the pronoun stands for the person being seen — it is the OBJECT of the infinitive 'to see' ('you want to see [someone]'), not the subject of any verb. Since the pronoun here performs an object role, the objective case 'whom' is required in place of the subjective 'who'. This error occurs entirely within part (2), 'who you want'.
‘May I know’ (part 1): a standard, grammatically correct request for permission — no case or tense issue.
‘to see’ (part 3): correctly follows ‘want’ as a to-infinitive (‘want + object + to-infinitive’), a standard English pattern.
‘please.’ (part 4): the courtesy marker is correctly placed and punctuated at the end of the request.
‘No error’ (part 5): does not apply, since a genuine case error is present in part (2).
Therefore, the error lies in part (2), ‘who you want’, because ‘who’ must be replaced by ‘whom’.