who
part of speech
pronoun (who, whom, whose)
meaning for a pupil
1) Who asks about a person: «Who is at the door?». tree →
2) Who tells more about a person just named: «The girl who won is my friend». tree →
3) Whom is who when it is the one something is done to: «to whom». tree →
4) Whose asks or tells who something belongs to. tree →
5) (casual) «Who cares?» means it does not matter; «who knows?» means nobody knows. tree →
6) (rude) «Who do you think you are?» and «who asked you?» are rude put-downs. tree →
7) (formal) Exams and letters use «whom», «to whom it may concern», «whosoever» and «the party who». tree →
sense in the lessons
who gives and who receives; «who» asks for a person, not a number; phrases: «who is», «who has more», «whose turn», «to whom»; in casual talk «who's coming?», «who cares», «who knows», «who's who»; in rough talk «who asked you?», «who d'you think you are?»; in the exam voice «to whom», «the party to whom the items were transferred», «whosoever»
examples
- Today's lesson: Who gives to whom? tree →
- Who has more marbles, Ben or Lily? tree →
- Who is the 5th in the line? tree →
- Who wants another slice of pizza? tree →
- The boy who sits next to me is called Sam. tree →
- Whose coat is this? tree →
- Ask a grown-up who you trust. tree →
- who's coming tmrw? me, u, jake = 3 tree →
- Who cares if it's 12 or 13, just eat 'em. tree →
- Who asked you? Mind your own business. tree →
- Identify the party to whom the greater number of items was transferred. tree →
- Who knows how many stars there are? tree →
- "Who's there?" asked the old lady. tree →
note
The giver loses and the receiver gains. «Who» asks for a person, not a number. Trap: «whose» (belonging) and «who's» (who is) sound the same. «whom» is formal; most people say «who». «to whom» in an exam asks for the receiver. «who cares» is not a real question.
In the corpora
- Benefits are paid for by everyone's taxes as a safety net, and many families who work get some help too.
- An inheritance is money or belongings left by someone who has died, as written in their will.
- An estate agent helps sell houses, and viewings are when people who might buy come to look round.
- Tenants who cannot get a repair done may complain more than once or ask the council for help.
- A chore chart lists the household jobs and who does each one, so work is shared fairly and nobody has to nag.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «who» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.