Here's my thinking:

Most of us would agree that "by them people" would not be acceptable, but "by those people" would be acceptable.

So it seems that "who did not approve of it" is substituting for "people." Following that logic, "by those who did not approve of it" would be the answer.

Karl tells us that the personal pronoun "them" doesn't take modifiers after it; here, "those" is a demonstrative pronoun that introduces the noun, which is actually that entire "who" clause. Yes, the "who" clause is not an adjective clause, but a noun clause, as in "I don't know who did not approve of it."

Don Stewart

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 1:01 PM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Jane, I had the same response and have the same question as you. I hope others jump in to enlighten us.

Dick Veit

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 12:34 PM, Jane Saral <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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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