Question

Fill in the blank with the correct pronoun from the options given.
This is the boy __________ mother won the Mrs. India contest last week.

• A. Whom
• B. Whose
• C. Who
• D. That

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Whose

Pronouns are the words that replace nouns. In order to fill in the blank, we must understand what relative pronouns are. Relative pronouns are pronouns that are used to connect a clause or a phrase to a noun or a pronoun. For example, 'I don't know who you are.' Here, 'who' is used to connect the phrase with 'I don't know' with the rest of the sentence. Also, 'who' connects the clause with 'you' here.

NOTE: We need a relative pronoun to connect the subordinate clause with the noun 'mother'.

Option A - 'Whom' is used as a relative pronoun, which is used as an objective pronoun for people. As the sentence is about 'the boy's possession', which is subjective, we can't use 'whom' here.Hence, option A is incorrect.

Option C -'Who' is a relative pronoun, which is used for people. Here, the sentence is about possession, thus we can use 'who'.Hence, option C is incorrect.

Option D - 'That' is a relative pronoun which is used to indicate/demonstrate an object/thing/place. Here, 'the boy' isn't being demonstrated, hence, we can't use 'that. Thus option D is incorrect.

option B - 'Whose' is a relative pronoun, used to indicate possession. As the given sentence is about 'the boy's mother', we can use 'whose' here. Hence, option B is the correct answer.

'This is the boy whose mother won the Mrs. India contest last week.'