What is the correct option?

[Anhminh1232002]

Hello everyone,
I'm studying on relative clause.
First, please help me choose a right option.

She had been assisted by a stranger ......... her motor and drove her to safety.
A. who started
B. whom starting
C. starting
D. that will start

Second, please help me to re-write the sentence above? To me, I think the sentence can be re-write like this:
She had been assisted by a stranger starting her motor and driving her to safety.

[Beeesneees]

The stranger started her motor and drove her to safety. (past tense).

'who' relates to 'the stranger':

She had been assisted by a stranger. The stranger started her motor.
She had been assisted by a stranger who started her motor.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Anhminh1232002]

Please check this sentence for me. Tks.
She had been assisted by a stranger starting her motor and driving her to safety.

Is there any error in the sentence? Thank you.

[Alan]

Hi,

The particlple 'starting' is only half a verb and needs to be complete as a tense. Then you need to connect the complete verb to a subject with the relative pronoun 'who'.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Esl_Expert]

[Anhminh1232002]

Hi, ESL Expert and everyone,
I am reading at your website http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessive . I am having a problem with it.
I don't understand the sentence:
It was a case of old age getting the better of them.

Especially, I wonder who are 'them'?
Thanks.

[Alan]

Hi,

'Get the better of you' suggests that something takes control of you and you can't do anything about it. You could say: My temper got the better of me and I started shouting. In your sentence it's difficult to know exactly what it means without knowing the context, The suggestion is that the fact that they were old made them do things that they couldn't prevent. 'Them' refers to the people who are acting in this way.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Anhminh1232002]

Despite of the fact that I am the person that make many mistakes in English, the example above is not mine. It is taken from the website http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessive . Anyway, will anybody ask the manager of the website to provide another clearer example to the website http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessive ?
Thank you.

[Esl_Expert]

Hi Anhminh,

Perhaps you need to experience old age yourself before you can fully appreciate that sentence. ;-)

First, I should probably tell you that that is not my site. However, it is a very well-respected site.

Any stand-alone sentence that contains only pronouns is going to have some ambiguity because without additional context, it isn't ever possible to know exactly who or what is being referred to. Even in your first example, there isn't any possible way to know who exactly "she" is. Or consider this sentence:

- He asked her if she'd been able to see them.

Do you also have a problem with that sentence? We do not know who exactly 'he' is. We don't know who 'she' is, and we don't know who (or what) 'them' is. We also don't know exactly what the purpose of the question is because there is no further context. That doesn't automatically make the sentence bad. The 'old age' example sentence serves its intended purpose, which was to provide an example of not using a possessive with an abstract idea (i.e., it would be awkward to say 'old age's getting the better of them').

Coming back to the expression 'get the better of', imagine something like this:

When I was young, I used to run 20-mile marathons every single year. I never won, but I always finished well ahead of the vast majority of people. Now that I'm 65, I find it difficult to run long distances. My body is getting older, I have arthritic joints, and I'm just not as strong as I was when I was in my 20s and 30s. I find that I am no longer able to complete 20-mile marathons. It's a case of old age getting the better of me. I would like to be able to participate in a 20-mile marathon, but I know that I am no longer physically able to do it, and there is nothing I can do to prevent this fact from being true. You might say that my old age has triumphed over any desire I might have to run in that 20-mile marathon. My old age is in control, and is causing me NOT to run.

In the sentence you posted, the reference seems to be to more than one person, and we can assume that the reference is to old people. Their old age is causing them to do or not to do something (which was probably different when they were younger).
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"Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible,
Yea, get the better of them. " ~ Shakespeare