whom it was

[navi tasan]

Are these sentences correct:

1-He was the man it was easy to talk to.
2-He was the man to whom it was easy to talk.

3-He was the man it was difficult to meet.
4-He was the man whom it was difficult to meet.

Gratefully,
Navi.

[ian_k]

People wouldn't talk like that. Sentences 1 and 3 don't sound natural; 2 and 4 sound rigid.
Additionally, in these sentences, 'the man' is redundant because you're already using the pronoun 'he'.

The following is saying the same thing
- "He was quite/really easy to talk to." | "The man was quite/really easy to talk to."
- "He was quite/very difficult to meet."
or -- "It was difficult to have/arrange a meeting with him/the man." (If you are talking about meeting appointments)

[5jj]

People wouldn't talk like that.

Well, some would. If you are pointing out a man you had previously spoken of, #1 and 3 are reasonably natural. #2 and # are indeed rather stuffy.

Additionally, in these sentences, 'the man' is redundant because you're already using the pronoun 'he'.

That is not necessarily the case.

The following is saying the same thing
- "He was quite/really easy to talk to." | "The man was quite/really easy to talk to."

They are not saying the same thing.

[ian_k]

Hi 5jj.

Yes, of course.. Inevitably I had to make some assumptions as I read those sentences. I was assuming that each of those sentences was not spoken on its own and not without context (i.e. the speaker is referring to and the listener is aware of a specific man not present at the time of speech), hence my using "wouldn't talk..." rather than "don't talk...", mentioning redundancy on these particular 4 sentences, and offering non-verbose alternatives in my comment.

Without complete background (which would be too cumbersome to do), it is always difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all solution to this type of interesting questions without bombarding the page with explanation by listing all possible scenarios. From experience, I learned that offering simple possibilities is always the best start to solving complex, interdependent problems. By making assumptions, I was actually expecting more questions from our friend Navi. So, hopefully your note on my comment could help him.

P.S: LOL! i was actually looking for that word ("stuffy") when I typed ('twas 5am GMT+7 here, yawn) as opposed to "rigid". i was even gonna go with "stiff"