Is the structure "X, whom I've had the pleasure of being the mentor of" proper?

Question

John is the mentor of Anna. John introduces Anna as:

Would the following be more correct?

I've changed all X to Anna, and Y to John. – NVZ Sep 15 '16 at 12:36 — NVZ, Sep 15 '16 at 12:36

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 15 '16 at 12:35

3

The second way is closer to being correct, but a bit awkwardly phrased. You might instead say

This is Anna, whom I've had the pleasure of mentoring

or in a more relevant example

Anna, whom I've had the pleasure of mentoring, has shown great dedication to her subject material

edited Sep 15 '16 at 12:35

NVZ

answered Sep 15 '16 at 11:56

gstats

That definitely seems more convenient and natural. Thanks. – Glycerius Sep 15 '16 at 14:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '16 at 11:21

1

The second way is only "more correct" if you don't like ending phrases like that with prepositions. Many people might think it sounds weirdly formal.

answered Sep 15 '16 at 11:21

KSFT

Sorry, I should've specified the context. This is a recommendation letter, so this is supposed to be relatively formal. Thanks! – Glycerius Sep 15 '16 at 11:24
1

@UğurY.Yavuz Some people might say it's more correct, but the second way is definitely not wrong. You could also reword the sentence to avoid this ("X, who(m) I've had the pleasure of mentoring...", "I have had the pleasure of being the mentor of X, who..."). – KSFT Sep 15 '16 at 11:34
I see, thanks for the advice. That way of wording seems more natural. – Glycerius Sep 15 '16 at 14:52

2 Answers2