Who did Tom say saw him?
Let’s say that Tom saw Sue.
I don’t mean to confuse you, but you should know that the answer to this question is “Tom said Sue saw him.”
Back to the original question. Let’s start building up the explanation from the beginning:
Step 1. Tom said (that) he saw Sue.
Step 2. Whom did Tom see? Mind you, “WHOM” rather than “WHO.” Tom saw Sue (object of the verb = Sue, or "her" rather than "she," and consequently “whom” rather than “who”).
Step 3. {
Did Tom say} (that) he saw Sue? Or, {
Did Tom say} (that) he saw whom? Or, more often heard {
Did Tom say} (that) he saw who?
Nowadays the sloppy minds outnumber the orderly ones, and to show you belong in the majority, you could substitute “who” for “whom.”
Step 4. Where is the strange syntax that bothers you is coming from? The answer is simple: the speaker wants to know whom Tom saw, so he starts his question with WHOM (or who), but then he realizes that Tom said something to that effect and switches over to inquire about Tom’s observation. A s result, he jumbles up the sentence and what comes out of his mouth is “Whom/who {
did Tom say} (that) he saw?
edytowany przez Janski: 16 gru 2023