Question

Choose the best alternative to improve the underlined part:
"She gave a beautiful speech, which everyone enjoyed it."

• A. which everyone enjoyed
• B. that everyone enjoyed
• C. whom everyone enjoyed
• D. who everyone enjoyed

Hint:

Tip: Avoid redundant pronouns in relative clauses.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The sentence to be processed is: "She gave a beautiful speech, which everyone enjoyed it." The phrase requiring correction is underlined: which everyone enjoyed it. The objective is to select the most accurate alternative from the provided options.

The grammatical problem lies in the nonrestrictive relative clause. The inclusion of "it" after "which" is redundant because "which" already refers to speech. The pronoun "it" is thus superfluous.

An effective alternative is needed to connect the main and relative clauses without redundancy. Consider the following options:

1. which everyone enjoyed
2. that everyone enjoyed
3. whom everyone enjoyed
4. who everyone enjoyed

Analysis of options:

• which everyone enjoyed: While "which" is grammatically suitable for referring to the speech, the subsequent "it" is redundant. For essential clauses, "that" is generally preferred over "which".
• that everyone enjoyed: This option rectifies both the pronoun redundancy and maintains clarity by directly modifying "speech".
• whom everyone enjoyed: "Whom" is a personal pronoun, inappropriate for referring to an object like "speech".
• who everyone enjoyed: "Who" is also a personal pronoun, unsuitable for inanimate objects.

The most grammatically sound choice is: that everyone enjoyed. The corrected sentence reads: She gave a beautiful speech, that everyone enjoyed.