Question

Which of the following is the correct grammatical form of the underlined portion? 
'Hansel and Gretel', an enchanting fairy tale, is the story of two young children whom stumble across a cottage made of gingerbread.

• A. whose stumble
• B. whom stumbled
• C. which stumble
• D. who stumble

Hint:

Use "who" when the pronoun is the subject of the verb in the clause (e.g., "The man \textbf{who} called..."). Use "whom" when the pronoun is the object of the verb or a preposition (e.g., "The man \textbf{whom} I called...").

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Determine the correct relative pronoun. The pronoun refers to "two young children," who are people. The pronoun is also performing the action (the verb "stumble"). Therefore, the subjective case pronoun "who" is required. "Whom" is the objective case, used when the person is the object of the verb.

Step 2: Determine the correct verb tense. The main verb of the sentence is "is" ("...is the story..."), which is in the present tense. To maintain consistency, the verb in the relative clause should also be in the present tense, "stumble".

Step 3: Combine the correct pronoun and verb. The correct phrase is "who stumble".