who
- 01 A1 Beginner
pron.you use this to ask which person or people did something.
pron.an interrogative pronoun used to request the identity of a person or group of people.
Simple“Who is that man standing by the door?”
In context“Who was responsible for authorizing the expenditure without consulting the board of directors first?”
UsageUsed as the subject of a sentence or question.
Teacher's tipWhile 'whom' is technically correct for objects, 'who' is the standard choice for almost all modern spoken contexts.
PitfallWho did you see at the party? Whom did you see at the party?In very formal English, 'who' is for the subject and 'whom' is for the object, though 'who' is now common for both in speech.
Synonymswhich person - 02 A1 Beginner
pron.you use this to give more details about a person you just mentioned.
pron.a relative pronoun used to introduce a clause that provides more information about a human antecedent.
Simple“The woman who lives next door is a famous doctor.”
In context“The candidates who successfully complete the first round of interviews will be invited back for a technical assessment.”
UsageIntroduces a relative clause.
Teacher's tipRemind students that 'who' is for people and 'which' is for things, though 'that' can sometimes be used for both.
PitfallThe car who I bought is red. The car that I bought is red.Use 'who' only for people; use 'which' or 'that' for objects.
Synonyms - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the identity of a person, often used when the person is unknown.
n.the identity or specific person involved in a situation, often used in phrases concerning mystery or investigation.
Simple“The police are still trying to find out the who and the why of the crime.”
In context“The mystery isn't just about the how, but the who—identifying the person behind the anonymous letters.”
UsageOften used in the phrase 'the who, what, where, and why'.
Teacher's tipThis noun use is idiomatic and usually appears alongside other question words treated as nouns.
Synonyms
who vs whom — Who functions as the subject of a verb, while whom functions as the object of a verb or preposition.
For Mandarin speakers Mandarin lacks a distinct /w/ phoneme that allows for the lip-rounding found in English /huː/; speakers may produce a sound closer to the labiodental /f/ or the voiceless velar fricative /x/, pronouncing the word like 'hu' (hǔ).
Mandarin relative clauses use the particle 的 (de) and precede the noun they modify, leading learners to place the 'who' clause before the subject or omit the relative pronoun entirely in English, producing 'The know me person' instead of 'The person who knows me.'
In Mandarin, 'who' (谁 shéi) can be used as an object in situ, causing learners to produce 'You see who?' (你看到谁？ Nǐ kàndào shéi?) instead of the English structure 'Who did you see?'
For Japanese speakers Japanese lacks the labio-velar glide /w/ before the high back vowel /u/, often causing speakers to substitute /h/ with an epenthetic /u/: /huː/. This results in a realization closer to 'foo' or /ɸɯː/ rather than the English /huː/.
Japanese relative clauses precede the noun they modify without a relative pronoun (e.g., 走る人 hashiru hito / 'running person'). Transfer of this head-final structure often results in omitting 'who' as a subject relative pronoun in English sentences.