Which relative pronoun is typically used to identify people?

Which relative pronoun is typically used to identify people?

• A. Who
• B. Which
• C. Where
• D. What

Answer: (A)

Relatives pronouns introduce information that identifies or describes a noun. For people, the standard choice is who. It points to the person in question and can be the subject or object of the relative clause: The author who won the prize spoke last night. Here, the clause “who won the prize” identifies which author is being talked about. The other options don’t fit the idea of identifying a person: which is used for things (or sometimes animals), where signals a place, and what isn’t used to identify a person in standard usage. So the best choice for identifying people is who.

Relatives pronouns introduce information that identifies or describes a noun. For people, the standard choice is who. It points to the person in question and can be the subject or object of the relative clause: The author who won the prize spoke last night. Here, the clause “who won the prize” identifies which author is being talked about.

The other options don’t fit the idea of identifying a person: which is used for things (or sometimes animals), where signals a place, and what isn’t used to identify a person in standard usage. So the best choice for identifying people is who.