Which sentence is correct?
- ...where successful people are giving lectures and people could exchange knowledge among themselves.
- ...where successful people are giving lectures and people could exchange knowledge among them.
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6In this sentence, them would exclude the subject (people), so you probably mean themselves.– Cerberus - Reinstate MonicaCommented Apr 23, 2013 at 20:08
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2Yes, a reflexive object must be used only when there is a coreferential subject. In He shot himself subject and object are the same, but in He shot him they're not.– John LawlerCommented Apr 23, 2013 at 20:11
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The sentence uses the present progressive and "could." I think it's better to use "can."– michael_timofeevCommented Aug 29, 2015 at 16:36
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4 Answers
I would suggest that neither ending is needed. Isn't it sufficient to say:
...where successful people are giving lectures and people could exchange knowledge.
I don't think among them/selves adds anything useful. Who else would they be exchanging knowledge with? People that weren't there?!
But if you must have an ending, what about:
...where successful people are giving lectures and people could exchange knowledge with each other.
As an aside, I think I would have said amongst themselves if using those words.
Themselves is reflexive pronoun, and them is objective pronoun. Now, according to rules, we should use objective pronoun after preposition; here "among" is the preposition. eg- between you and me.
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1Hello, Rahul. 'We left the tidying-up to them' And 'They talked amongst themselves' show that a rule insisting that either type of pronoun is mandatory, is incorrect. Commented Aug 29, 2015 at 15:12
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Yes, Mr. Edwin... you are right; it is not mandatory to use either pronoun, and it seems superfluous. Even so, if a writer chooses, he or she must abide by the rules of the English grammar. reference- Grammar Girl , Longman English Grammar– RahulCommented Aug 31, 2015 at 12:02
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Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) and Longman would not claim that either 'We left the tidying-up to them' or 'They talked amongst themselves' is ungrammatical. Please show the exact place where you have found 'according to rules, we should use objective pronoun after preposition', as you put it. Have a look at the most upvoted answer in the Usage of reflexive pronouns thread. Commented Aug 31, 2015 at 12:33
While I agree with TrevorD that the better answer is to leave off the preposition entirely, it's worth pointing out that "amoung them" is particularly incorrect. The meaning would read as follows:
... where successful people are giving lectures and [other] people could exchange knowledge among them.
People can't share anything among themselves.
Consider:
I can't give anything to myself.
We can't give anything to ourselves.
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1Sorry but this is actually wrong. "We gave ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done." (Metaphorical, probably, but definitely possible)– Andrew Leach ♦Commented May 12, 2013 at 19:35