A recent SAT "ID the error" question reads:

Although it is widely regarded as a masterpiece now, when it was built

                            A                                                  B

the Eiffel Tower was compared to a "ridiculous smokestack" by them who did

                                                                                            C

not approve of it.        No error

            D                       E

C just sounds wrong.  I would say "by those who did not approve of it."  But isn't the "them/those" word the stand-alone O.P. of by, unaffected by the relative clause that follows?  This does not seem to be dealing with the who/whom question;  "who" is correctly the subject of "did not approve." 

So why is this an error?

Jane Saral

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