The man who thinks (that) he knows how to play soccer, OR the man who thinks (that) knows how to play soccer well.

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Hi, How are ya doing?

I really still don’t know what the right grammar is when to use who and whom.

Can ya please tell me which sentence is right:

  • The man who thinks (that) he knows how to play soccer,

OR

  • the man who thinks (that) knows how to play soccer well.

In audition, I want ya to explain this sentence to me because it sounds confusing.

  • Her mother, in whom she confided, said (that) she would support her unconditionally.

Does in whom refer to mother or daughter?  besides does the clause [She confided] refer to mother or daughter, lastly the word of said refers to what? and who would support her the mother or daughter?

Thanks!

Hi Sammy,

It looks like you have a couple of different questions here, so I will answer them one at a time.

Repeated pronoun

I think that the main issue with these two sentences is that you are not sure whether you should use the second “he” in the answer, is this correct?  The answer depends on  what you are talking about. In fact, each sentence is correct in the right context.

  • The man who thinks (that) he knows how to play soccer,

This sentence is correct if you are talking about a man. This man thinks that is knows how to play soccer, whether or not he actually knows. That means that the focus of the sentence is on what the man thinks. As long as something is true in his mind, you can use the sentence structure “The man who thinks that he…”

 

No repeated pronoun

  • The man who thinks (that) knows how to play soccer well.

If you are using this sentence, it means that you have already talked about something that the man believes. It is not the man’s belief that he can play soccer well that is the focus of the sentence; instead, it is more important to pay attention to the first part of the phrase.

“The man who thinks” could describe someone who can use their brain. If they use their brain, the man can know how to play soccer well. If you add “that”, you are referring to a specific belief that you talked about earlier. For example, you could write something like this:

Some people believe that it takes years of practice to become a soccer player. The man who thinks that knows how to play soccer well.

In this instance, the man who believes that it takes  years of practice to become a soccer player can know how to play soccer well.

 

The confusing sentence

  • Her mother, in whom she confided, said (that) she would support her unconditionally.

The main reason that this sentence is confusing is because you are talking about two people (the mother and the daughter) with only pronouns. You also have the prepositional phrase (in whom she confided) that is confusing as to which context it refers to.

Because the phrase “in whom she confided” comes directly after saying “her mother”, it refers to the mother. In other words, the daughter confided in her mother.

The person who said that she would be supportive is also the mother, and the mother would support the daughter. If you take out all of the pronouns in this sentence, you could rewrite the sentence to the following. This makes everything more clear:

  • The girl confided in her mother, and her mother said that she would support her daughter unconditionally.

Hope this helps!

Thank ya Alice so much of your help that I couldn’t know this confusing sentences, until you showed how to figure out what differences in one of these sentences are.

Regards.

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