Who Are OR Who Is?

ESL people are sometimes at a loss about the correct SVA (Subject Verb Agreement) aspect of sentences with "who."

There are two angles to look at this question from.


1. Where only "Who IS" right!

Suppose you are walking into a room where a number of people are present. Would you use a singular verb or a plual verb in these sentences?

Who is/are interested in Football?

Who wants snacks?

Who is eating pizza tonight?

Even if you are asking this question to a group of people and sure that there will be more than one person as an answer, you are supposed to use A SINGULAR VERB. It is because we donot know the number of people beforehand.

2. Where only "Who ARE" right!

However, there are instances where you need to use a plural verb. It is when you know the number of people in advance. In fact, here, you are not trying to count the people, but rather you want to know the names or something of those persons.

Suppose you are going to a restaurant and see two people eating pizza. In this case, you will only ask this:

Who ARE eating pizza.

It is because here, you are trying to who those people are; you already know how many people you are going to talk about.

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