regarding whom...

[navi tasan]

Which are correct:

1) Tom is the only man here regarding whom we don't know how many times he has been married.
2) Tom is the only man here concerning whom we don't know how many times he has been married.
3) Tom is the only man here that we don't know how many times he has been married.

 

[Tarheel]

None of them are natural in my humble opinion. Are they talking about how many times people have been married? Why?

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you very much, Tarheel,

I was just wanted to see if that construct works in English. I wasn't focusing on the marriage part.

We could be talking about anything. The idea is that we don't know something about that specific person.

Maybe these examples would work better:

4) He was the only man in the group regarding whom we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.
5) He was the only man in the group concerning whom we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.
6) 4) He was the only man in the group that we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.


Gratefully,
Navi

 

[Tarheel]

I know I've said this at least 100 times, but everything occurs in some kind of context. I suppose we are talking about a political campaign. Everybody there but one is a contributor. Who am I saying that to and why? What's my intention? (See below.)

Abe: What's he doing here. Has he contributed to the campaign?
Bob: I don't think so. He's my chauffeur. And bodyguard.
Abe: Oh. OK.

People usually want to understand what you're saying.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you very much, Tarheel and my apologies,

Yes You are correct.

We had a campaign dinner. We knew how much every person has contributed except for one man. Let's say that man's name was Tom. I will change the examples slightly.

So there is a dinner. We know how much everyone has contributed except for Tom. I am saying that Tom is that person.

4) Tom was the only person at the dinner regarding whom we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.
5) Tom was the only man person at the dinner concerning whom we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.
6) He was the only person at the dinner that we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.

Do the sentences work?

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[tedmc]

I think only 6 is natural.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wouldn't use any of them. They're really messy.

Tom's the only person here whose contribution is unknown.

 

[5jj]

I wouldn't use any of them. They're really messy.

I agree.

However, I wouldn't be surprised to hear this:

6) He was the only person at the dinner that we didn't know how much he had contributed to the campaign.

 

[Phaedrus]

The only way out of Navi's mess here, it seems to me, may be to use noun phrases rather than embedded questions. While not beautiful, these may be better:

Tom is the only man here whose number of times of being married we don't know.
Tom was the only person at the dinner the value of whose contributions to the campaign we didn't know.