Saturday, September 8, 2018

word usage - On the singular vs plural aspects of "who"


In a question like this one, for example,



Who have/has come?



Is the word "who" singular or plural? Or is it both plural and singular?


I have heard it’s plural. Please correct me if I am wrong.



Answer



Who can be either an interrogative pronoun ("Who is that?") or a relative pronoun ("The man who sells fruit"). Neither interrogative pronouns (question words) nor relative pronouns (which/that/who and variations) are bound to grammatical number by themselves. The plurality is instead bound to the object in question.



Examples:


"Who is that man?" - singular due to "man"


"Who are those people?" - plural due to "people"


"The man, who is sitting there,..." - again singular due to "man"


"The men, who are sitting there,..." - plural due to "men"


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