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does this make sense?

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crisgal | 21:39 Thu 14th Jul 2011 | Phrases & Sayings
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"She has passed on a wealth of knowledge to Thomas, who shares her enthusiasm for caring about others and the world around him."

or should the final word be 'her' or 'them'?
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Deffo.
the world around him (Thomas)
Why not use 'them', which removes any question of gender?
I'd also go for "around him" because Thomas shares her enthusiasm for caring about others and the world around him
its talking about a shared passion. i would say 'them'
The natural assumption here is that the 'she' is Thomas's mother or some other loving female relative and that he is a child. However, they could equally both be adults, say professor and student.
If he is a child, she might actually be a nanny or tutoress who can't stand the little blighter...that is, she may not care a good goldarn for the world about HIM but does for the world about HER. Nevertheless, as a dutiful employee, she has taught him many things and - as a result - he has acquired many of her views, albeit he is applying them in a different way.
If you use 'them', as I suggested earlier, you cover both possibilities; namely, that these two people may occupy what amounts to separate worlds or the same world. (Yes, I know there is only one actual world in a physical sense but, in another way, we each occupy our very own world.)

Stick with 'them'.
I'd use 'him', but I think 'them' would work even if it does change the meaning slightly. I suppose 'her' would to but there again the meaning changes again. It's always the same world, but ....

Pick one. I'd go with 'him'.
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well, i'm glad it wasn't just me who doubted myself!
i've gone with them.
There are 2 schools of thought on this one. I would go with the word "them" personally.
How about 'us'
(Wasn't that a song title by Champagne?)
Thomas is the subject .. so it's 'him'
Almost, Factor, but it was "Champaign" as in the county in Illinois rather than the fizzy drink...
Good choice, Crisgal!
Am I really alone in preferring 'her'? He is sharing her enthusiasm, not the other way round, and her enthusiasm is for the world around her.
yes, but his own enthusiasm is (probably) for the world around him, rather than the world around her. "Them" seems sensible as it would avoid the ambiguity.
My point exactly, J, in my second response above. Cheers
I'd go with 'her'. The object Thomas shares is "her enthusiasm for caring about others and the world around her".
Anyway him seemed fine on first reading.
Yes,OK, you can justify either 'her' or 'them', but I prefer 'her' as being syntactically purer while 'them' is merely safer.
I don't agree with "merely" safer. The plain fact is that there are two potential ambiguities in the original sentence...
a) her enthusiasm/his enthusiasm
b) her world/his world.
We know for sure that the enthusiasm is shared, so they/them is clearly OK, but we are unsure whether their 'worlds' are identical. Accordingly, maybe the best solution would be a complete rewrite, but if - as I imagine Crisgal wanted - we are looking for a minimal alteration, then 'them' is simply the best (at the risk of sounding like Diana Ross or whoever!)

A possible alternative...
She has passed on a wealth of knowledge to Thomas. As a result, he cares as much about others as she does and has the same enthusiasm for his world as she has for hers.

Clumsy, obviously, so that's why I still believe 'them' is the neatest solution.

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