I am writing a paper on relative 'who'/'whom' as complement
of a preposition (e.g. 'the man to whom you spoke'; 'the
man who you spoke to').
I am especially interested in the case where the
preposition precedes the relative pronoun. The grammars
('normative', 'didactic', 'descriptive') seem to be
unanimous in judging Prep+whom correct and Prep+who
incorrect.
The sentences listed below, which are from the British
National Corpus, do not conform to this rule. What I would
like to have your opinion on is this:
Do native-speakers of English actually use Prep+relative
who? In other words: Do you think that the sentences may
very well be correct representations of the text-producers'
usage? Or would you consider it likely that there are
printing/typing (or transcription) errors involved here
(omission of 'm' in 'who'), which distort the picture? (I
think my question points to a, perhaps seldom relevant,
but nevertheless interesting problem for corpus linguistics
if low frequency features are concerned: How sure can we
be that the corpus represents text-production
authentically?)
All but (8) are from written sources.
(1) A passionate lover of the Savoy Operas, she was a
founder member of the Bradford Gilbert and Sullivan
Society, with who she had a long association. (C8G: 418)
(2) It's almost impossible to put him down in the tackle,
and there are few players about who you an [sic; probably
'can' is intended] say that. (CB2: 396)
(3) They need to keep their bankers happy by reducing a =A33
million-plus debt in the next few months, and Robson, in
who Leeds are already showing an interest, will become
their most disposable asset. (CBG: 305)
(4) It has one senior bishop, two suffragans, one dean,
four archdeacons, and 21 rural deans of who one is a woman.
(ED9: 3029)
(5) They must be treated as adequate because they reflect
the statutory provisions in regard to appeals by persons
upon who intervention notices are served by S.I.B. in the
exercise of the intervention powers delegated to it by the
Secretary of State (as to which see section 97 of the Act).
(FD1: 413)
(6) Instead, the sites are used by local residents, of who
some 25 per or so come by foot and use the sites like an
urban park, primarily to take a walk (Harrison, 1981).
(FR2: 453)
(7) Through its founder Molly Braithwaite, for who we held
a heartfelt admiration, we feel an affectionate living bond
with all those in positions of responsibility within the
MEDAU SOCIETY. (HU8: 57)
(8) I would also I think put in a word for the work of the
joint [...] policy panel [...] which is shared between this
committee and the social services committee because it
seems to me that it is not [unclear] for us to be thinking
that there is a group of children for who nursery education
is necessary [...] or desirable and a different group of
children for whom something else [...] is necessary and
desirable, largely because of their parents' position.
(JWA: 149)
Dr. Carsten Breul
Universitaet-GH Duisburg
FB 3; Anglistik
47048 Duisburg
Germany
or
carsten.breul@ruhr-uni-bochum.de