Professor Geoffrey Leech points out that who must always be singular. He believes that questions, such as, “Who are coming to the party” is ungrammatical. According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary:
Who- what person or persons, which person or persons used as an interrogative pronoun or indirect questions and serving to ask for specification.
Professor Leech would rather see the word was instead of who, however singular and plural verbs could be used. An example of this is “Who are going to the game with us?” However, there are some cases in which who does seem to have a plural and only a plural reference can be used. An example of this would be “Who play in tomorrows musical?”
When who is followed by a plural noun in which has a relationship with the subject, then a plural verb is needed. For example, “Who make the best cookies?” and “who have the main part in the play?”
A lot of times, grammatical rules can be surprising because they seem to contradict what we use in everyday language, but this is the opposite here. Spoken language and written word do not always line up, but this rule seems to be common sense. I did not realize that this was even a grammatical consideration because it simply just doesn’t sound right to try to place a singular noun after the word “who”. Regardless of whether the direct object is plural or singular, it just sounds weird to try to say “who make” or “who have”.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I’m not sure what you mean when you said: “However, there are some cases in which who does seem to have a plural and only a plural reference can be used. An example of this would be “Who play in tomorrows musical?” Does that mean that that sentence is actually grammatically correct?…because it sounds horribly wrong.
I found it interesting that the author tries to argue that there can be singular and plural verbs after "who". I do not believe that putting a plural verb after "who", such as "are" or "have" sounds or looks grammatically right. I was never taught to write or speak like that. I do not necessarily agree with this author but its interesting to see his point of view.
ReplyDeleteEven though the author argues their point, I find the grammar rule to sound incorrect. Although I have not been correctly taught how to speak a correct sentence, but I feel that I have been taught when to use "who" in a sentence. The way a person speaks compared to how they write, for me, is somewhat different. I thought this grammar rule was kind of confusing. For example, "Who play in tomorrow's musical?" sounds incorrect to me.
ReplyDeleteI have always been taught that nine times out of ten if the sentence sounds wrong or looks wrong, it is usually wrong. While Professor Geoffrey Leech says something different, I have to say that the english language is very complicated and has holes within the language. Though very sufficient, I think that there are exceptions when it comes to looking at rules; this being one of them. When I say the two example sentences (“Who are going to the game with us?” and “Who play in tomorrows musical?”), I feel that I did not say either of the sentences right. Overall, a very interesting, deep look at a rule within the english language and an interesting concept
ReplyDeleteI think "who" can be plural but not in a sentence such as, "Who are coming to the party?" I would say, "Who IS coming to the party?" I found this article confusing, but very interesting. In my opinion, I think that rule is incorrect. I would feel like I am saying the sentence wrong if I were to use that rule.
ReplyDeleteI mean I dont ever remember using Who as plural I always thought it was signular, not because of the grammar rules but it just "sounds" right. But from what I have been learning so far a lot of things that "sounds" right is not always correct. So I can understand why he believes that who can only be signular but that does not make it correct. This article was interesting and informal.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the author, in stating the different theory in using "who" grammatically. I believe that this format in applying who into the sentence just does not sound correct. I was never taught to use "who" in the example provided above. However it was very interesting article.
ReplyDeleteI was completely flaberghasted by this article. It made me wonder if my instructors had messed up in their teachings back in elementary school and high school, because i did not know anything about this. Grammar should be stressed more early on in a childs school life so that these confusions don't happen. I am used to saying who's coming to the game" and not" who are coming to thegame", grammar should be a priority in teachers agendas to teach all children. from english teachers to math, and so on. its simple to fix as the child is younger and harder to change a habit as one gets older.
ReplyDeleteAlthough his arguments are valid, I would suggest that even though it is technically correct in some cases to follow who with a plural verb, it does not sound correct. Admittedly, this could be the result of my own ignorance or poor instruction, but I have never heard anyone say, "Who are coming to the party?" Furthermore, I feel that who, as an interrogative pronoun, asks for individual identification. For example if someone asks, "Who is coming to the party?" they are wanting to individually identify people and groups of people.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Leech's grammatical theory is obsurd to me. The flow of a sentence like, "Who are coming to the party," lacks exactly that...FLOW. When you follow 'who' with a plural verb, it does not sound correct nor look correct. If I am going to ask someone, "who at the party", self explanatory is does not make any sense. You must make the 'who' plural.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I was never taught this grammatical technique before in my previous school. This seems weird to me because when saying these setences the language doesn't flow. It seems as if the speaker is speaking their own language that no one else knows. I beleive I will never use the "who" in this way nor will I teach it.
ReplyDeleteI Have always struggled with the proper way to use who and whoever. After reaading the authors point opf view i must say he makes a pretty good argument. It does sound ungramatical to say "Who are comming to the party", it just dosent feel right. I do remember when i was learning this in high school my teacher explained To determine whether to use whoever or whomever, here is the rule:
ReplyDeletehim + he = whoever
him + him = whomever
I do not agree with professor Leech's theory. Non of these sentences sound grammatically correct, it has no flow and sounds igonarant.I totally disagree who is not always singular
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joana that when reading it, it looks correct but when hearing it, using who as a plural sounds incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Chalker, that it would make more sense to use who as a plural because when expecting a plural answer you should use a plural question. If you are expecting that more than one person is coming over to swim, then it only makes sense to say, "Who are coming over to swim." Although it might sound a bit odd, it seems more gramatically correct to use who as a plural.
(copied from the other class's blog. I commented the wrong blog.)