Who came to see you?

[trans]

Originally Posted by Anglika

D

I agree with Anglica then
"Whom do you think you came to see?"

[queenbu]

I would go for C.

[queenbu]

who(m) in questions

Whom is not often used in informal English. We prefer to use who as an object, especially in questions.
Who did they arrest?
Who did you go with?
We use whom in a more formal style; and we must use whom after a preposition.
Whom did they arrest? (formal)
With whom did you go? (very formal)

Practical English Usage - Michael Swan

[trans]

to queenbu:
Anglica was joking: D isn't correct.
I've changed D sentence making it correct (if formal): Whom do you think you came to?
No doubts that C.
to piousoul:
I can see only:
What do you think: who (was it who) came to see you?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by piousoul

I want to make sure that you mean the line in bold sounds odd and doesn't make sense, right?

Right. Do you think (that) who came to see you? sounds awkward.

Originally Posted by piousoul

If I put about after think, would it sound better?

Do you think about who came to see you? OR,

Are you thinking about who came to see you?

Does it sound right?

The second one is fine. The first one is also fine - given context and substantivity. The pronoun who replaces a noun, the referent of which the speaker chooses not to mention by name.

Ex: Do you think about [the person] who came to see you?
Ex: Do you think about who came to see you?

Again, context is everything. So, if it's a 'test question' (for your students) you should teach your students about ellipsis, substantivity, as well as explain with examples that verbs can and do have different structures. Some take CPs, others NPs.

All the best.

[piousoul]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

The second one is fine. The first one is also fine - given context and substantivity. The pronoun who replaces a noun, the referent of which the speaker chooses not to mention by name.

Ex: Do you think about [the person] who came to see you?
Ex: Do you think about who came to see you?

Again, context is everything. So, if it's a 'test question' (for your students) you should teach your students about ellipsis, substantivity, as well as explain with examples that verbs can and do have different structures. Some take CPs, others NPs. All the best.

Many thanks, Casiopea, for the feedback and clarification.
By the way, what do you mean by "substantivity?" I couldn't find it in my dictionary but a close word "substantive" which refers to a noun.

One more thing, I don't quite understand what CPs and NPs are; would you shed more light? Thanks.

[trans]

Do you think about who came to see you.

I went to Cobuild Concordance and Collocations Sampler
and entered: about+who
It is - and I didn't believe! (Still don't though... )
Even for think+about+who, like: "I kept thinking about who could be doing this..."

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by piousoul

I couldn't find it in my dictionary but a close word "substantive" which refers to a noun.

It means stand in for or substitute. For example the word young, an adjective, functions as a noun here, Only the young are here.

Originally Posted by piousoul

One more thing, I don't quite understand what CPs and NPs are; would you shed more light? Thanks.

A CP is a that-clause; that is called a complementizer. An NP is a noun phrase.

I know that my boss loves seafood. <CP>
I know the alphabet. <NP>

Do you think about the person who came to see you?
<NP + Relative Clause>

Do you think about who came to see you?
<NP omitted, Relative Clause>

That pattern is not unique. It occurs elsewhere in the grammar - with other relatives - specifically relative adverbs when, where, why:

I remember the day when we met. <NP>
I remember when we met. <Adverbial Clause>

This is the place where we met. <NP>
This is where we met.

That is the reason why I did it. <NP>
That is why I did it.

Note, the NPs the day, the place, and the reason are redundant, or unnecessary and the reason they're omitted. The same pattern is found here,

Do you think about the person who came to see you? <NP>
Do you think about who came to see you?

All the best.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by trans

I went to Cobuild Concordance and Collocations Sampler
and entered: about+who
It is - and I didn't believe! (Still don't though... )
Even for think+about+who, like: "I kept thinking about who could be doing this..."

For me, piousoul's example sentence has implied 'ever',

Ex: Do you (ever) think about the person who came to see you?

All the best.

[queenbu]

Originally Posted by queenbu

You could say 'Do you think about who came to see you yesterday?'

See, Trans, I wasn't joking!