Without whom interest...

[FangFang]

Hi,
I can't understand the following sentences ,specially the grammars concerned . Please read them and share your opinions.

"We are grateful for all those pioneers in the field of international accounting without whom interest in this field would not have materialized."
Can you explain the sentence structure from "Without " to the end? Thanks a lot.

F.F

[Canadian45]

There is only one sentence and there should be a comma after "accounting".

It means if those pioneers hadn't done what they did, there would be no interest in international accounting now. ("whom" refers to the pioneers)

[Mister Micawber]

[FangFang]

Thanks, Canadian45 and M.M
" Whom" is the head of restrictive clause and "interest in this field "is the subject(right?) , how can I understand the logical relationship of "whom" and "interest in this field"?
Can I change "whom" into "them"?, and what's the difference? Many Thanks!

F.F

[Yankee]

Hi FangFang

You could replace whom with them if you make two sentences, for example:

"We are grateful for all those pioneers in the field of international accounting. Without them, interest in this field would not have materialized."
-OR-
"We are grateful for all those pioneers in the field of international accounting.
Interest in this field would not have materialized without them."

Amy