About "wonder"

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Anonymous

#579011 Wed, 22 Oct 08 06:11 PM

Everyone were wondering who that remrak was aimed at.

Everyone were wondering that remrak was aimed at whom.

Do those two sentences share the same meaning?

If so, can someone explain why the relative pronound (who) is the back?

THANKS!!

Anonymous

Whom

Yoong Liat

#579030 Wed, 22 Oct 08 07:06 PM

Everyone were wondering who that remrak was aimed at.

Everyone were wondering that remrak was aimed at whom.

Everyone was wondering who (whom) that remark was aimed at.

Everyone was wondering at whom that remark was aimed.

The usual practice is not to put 'whom' at the end of the sentence.

Do those two sentences share the same meaning?

Yes.

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,149)

Yoong Liat

Whom

Anonymous

#579037 Wed, 22 Oct 08 07:38 PM

Everyone was wondering who (whom) that remark was aimed at.

Everyone was wondering at whom that remark was aimed.

The usual practice is not to put 'whom' at the end of the sentence.

Do those two sentences share the same meaning?

Yes.

Thanks for replying and correcting.

Are you saying that "Everyone was wondering that remrak was aimed at whom." is wrong?

Because My teacher said that sentence is the "active voice" of the first setence ( Everyone was wondering who that remrak was aimed at. ).

I agree with you, but I want to know whether it's acceptable.

If I insist on putting "at whom" in the back, does it still mean the same?

Anonymous

Whom

CalifJim

#579041 Wed, 22 Oct 08 07:48 PM

The verb wonder takes an embedded indirect question.

The direct question is: Who was that remark aimed at? [Note the inversion of that remark (the subject) and was (the verb).]

The corresponding indirect question is: ... who that remark was aimed at ... [Note that there is no subject-verb inversion.]

Therefore, you need to place the indirect question after wonder thus:

Everyone was wondering who that remark was aimed at.

____

Very formally, the direct question is: At whom was that remark aimed?

And the indirect: at whom that remark was aimed

So, very formally, you might have:

Everyone was wondering at whom that remark was aimed.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (18,337)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Verbs, Whom, Indirect Questions, Direct Questions

CalifJim

#579045 Wed, 22 Oct 08 08:07 PM

Anonymous
My teacher said that sentence is the "active voice" of the first sentence

Either: Your teacher is wrong.

Or: You misunderstood what your teacher said.

_____

The active form of Who was that remark aimed at? is Who did someone aim that remark at? -- which is extremely awkward. I don't think anybody would use that form.

The full sentence with the embedded indirect question in the active voice is so cumbersome that it is totally unusable:

Everybody was wondering who someone aimed that remark at.

Or, very formally

Everybody was wondering at whom someone aimed that remark.

Yikes! I don't recommend using these! They're awful! Smile

CalifJim

Whom, Indirect Questions, Direct Questions

Yoong Liat

#579049 Wed, 22 Oct 08 08:21 PM

Hi Anon

Anonymous
Everyone were wondering who that remrak was aimed at.

Please note that it should be 'remark'.

Yoong Liat

Anonymous

#579234 Thu, 23 Oct 08 08:29 AM

Thanks for all of your insightful asnwers.

I checked the answer again today, my teacher said "Everyone was wondering that remrak was aimed at whom." is correct.

What bothers me is that I can't understand why "at whom" can be in the end of the sentence and why "wonder" is not followed by relative pronoun.

Yoong said it's a usual practice not to put 'whom' at the end of the sentence.

Is it just a matter of usual practice, which means it's also acceptable, or it's wrong?

Also, I remember if there no relative pronoun is after "wonder", the meaning is different, am I right?

It would be a great help, if someone can elaborate on it.

Thanks.

Anonymous

Nouns, Pronouns, Relative Pronouns, Whom

Mister Micawber

#579239 Thu, 23 Oct 08 09:00 AM

.
I'll butt in here without reading the rest of your thread. Your teacher is not right. 'Everyone was wondering that remark was aimed at whom' is unacceptable. Use one of these:

Everyone was wondering who that remark was aimed at.
Everyone was wondering at whom that remark was aimed.

'That' here is a demonstrative (an adjective). No 'that' (the conjunction) unless in a totally different sort of sentence:

Everyone wondered that he had accepted that remark without remonstrating'.
.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (23,507)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Whom

Yoong Liat

#579292 Thu, 23 Oct 08 12:40 PM

Hi Anon

Anonymous
Yoong said it's a usual practice not to put 'whom' at the end of the sentence.

I said that because that sentence sounds awkward to me. I have never seen it used that way.

I didn't want to insist that it is wrong because another member may say that it is okay. For example, your teacher says that the sentence is fine.

However, now with CJ and MM saying that it is wrong, I'll say that your teacher is not teaching standard English.

I checked the answer again today, my teacher said "Everyone was wondering that remrak was aimed at whom." is correct.

Please note that you repeat the same mistake in misspelling 'renark'. Or is it your teacher's version?

Yoong Liat

Whom, Spelling