b.

The pronoun Who

The pronoun who usually refers only to persons. Unlike the other interrogative pronouns, who
changes its form depending on the case, as shown in the following table.
Subjective Case
who

Objective Case
whom

Possessive Case
whose

i. Who
When who is the subject of a verb, the subjective case must be used.
e.g. Who opened the door?
Who will help me?
It should be noted that when who is used with the verb to be, or with verbs in the Passive Voice, the
subjective case must usually be used, since such verbs cannot take an object.
e.g. Who is it?
Who was the fastest runner?
Who will be there?
Who has been elected?
The first three examples above illustrate the use of who with the verb to be. The fourth example
illustrates the use of who with a verb in the Passive Voice.
ii. Whom
In formal English, when the pronoun who is the object of a verb or the object of a preposition, the
objective form whom must be used.
e.g. Whom did you see downtown?
To whom did you send the invitations?
In the first example, whom is the object of the verb see. In the second example, whom is the object
of the preposition to.
In informal English, the form who is often used for the objective as well as for the subjective case.
For instance, in informal English, the preceding examples might be expressed Who did you see
downtown? and Who did you send the invitations to? However, this use of who is considered to
be grammatically incorrect in formal English.
iii. Whose
The form whose can be used either as a possessive adjective followed by a noun, or as a possessive
pronoun.
e.g. Whose books are these?
Whose are these?
In the first example, whose is used as a possessive adjective, followed by the noun books. In the
second example, whose is used as a possessive pronoun.
The possessive form whose expresses the idea of belonging to. For instance, the idea expressed in
the sentence: Whose books are these? could also be expressed by the sentence: To whom do these
books belong?
c. What and Which
What and which can be used either as interrogative pronouns, or as interrogative adjectives
followed by nouns.
e.g. What is that?
Which is his sister?
What time is it?

Which woman is his sister?

In the first two examples, what and which are used as interrogative pronouns. In the last two
examples, what and which are used as interrogative adjectives preceding the nouns time and
woman.
When used as adjectives or as interrogative pronouns, what and which can refer to either persons or
things. In the following examples, what and which are used as interrogative adjectives referring to
persons and things.
e.g. What girl would not like to own a horse?
What color are the apples?
Which boy is the best horseback rider?
Which road leads to Chicago?
However, it should be noted that when used as a relative pronoun, which can refer only to things.
Relative pronouns will be discussed later in this chapter.
Which as an adjective or interrogative pronoun usually implies a choice of one or more things from
a limited number of alternatives.
e.g. Which apple would you like?
Which children were ready on time?
The first example implies a choice of one apple from two or more apples. The second example
implies that an answer is expected which will indicate certain children from a limited group of
children.
In contrast, what as an adjective or interrogative pronoun is usually used in order to ask for general
information.
e.g. What time is it?
What does he want?
What can also be used in exclamations. For instance, the exclamation What! can be used to express
surprise or disbelief. The following are other examples of the use of what in exclamations.
e.g. What nonsense!
What a shame!
What a beautiful day!
In written English, an exclamation must be followed by an exclamation mark: ! It should be noted
that exclamations often do not contain verbs.
As illustrated above, when an exclamatory what precedes a singular, countable noun, the word
what must be followed by a or an.
e.g. What a coincidence!
What an elegant dress!