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Which one to use?Beginnerpronombre relativopronombre relativo
WhichvsWho
'Which' is used for things, animals, and concepts; 'who' is used for people.
Side-by-side comparison
Which
pronombre relativo"Who" is used for people. The question to ask yourself: is the noun a person? If yes, use "who".
The report which the team submitted last Friday contained several inaccuracies that need to be corrected.
This is the software which our IT department uses to manage internal requests.
The conference, which took place in Madrid, attracted more than two thousand participants from forty countries.
Who
pronombre relativo"Which" is used for things, animals, and groups. If the noun is not a person, "which" is the correct choice for relative clauses.
The colleague who presented the analysis this morning has worked in the industry for over fifteen years.
Do you know who approved the final budget? I need to follow up with them directly.
Everyone who registers before the end of the month will receive an early access discount.
Common mistake
- •Classic errors: "The person which called" = wrong (use "who" for people, never "which").
- •"The book who I read" = wrong (use "which" or "that" for things, never "who").
Trick to remember it
- •Substitution test: can you replace with "he/she"? = "who" (person); "it/they"? = "which" (thing).
- •"The teacher who explained it" (she explained); "the tool which works" (it works).
Quick rule
Who = people. Which = things, animals (in impersonal context), concepts. "That" can replace "which" or "who" in restrictive clauses (no commas).
Did you know?
In Old and Middle English, the WHO/WHICH distinction was not so rigid: WHICH was used for people in many contexts. The King James Bible (1611) uses WHICH for God: "Our Father WHICH art in Heaven", today it would sound strange; we would say "Our Father WHO art in Heaven." The modern norm of WHO for people and WHICH for things was progressively standardized between the 17th and 19th centuries, driven by the first prescriptive grammar books that tried to systematize English. Today, WHICH for people sounds archaic except in liturgical or historical literary texts.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The woman _____ lives next door is a vet. She's great with animals.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She bought a lamp _____ changes colour. It's really stylish.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
WhovsWhom
"Who" is the subject (does the action); "whom" is the object (receives the action).
Who'svsWhose
'Who\'s' contracts 'who is' or 'who has'; 'whose' asks or states who something belongs to.
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
A lot ofvsMany
'A lot of' works for countable and uncountable; 'many' only for countable; 'much' only for uncountable.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy