who

[[t]hu[/t]]

pron. possessive whose, objective whom

1) fun what person or persons?:

Who is he?[/ex]

2) fun (of a person) of what character or importance:

Who does she think she is?[/ex]

3) fun the person that or any person that (used relatively to represent a specified or implied antecedent):

It was who you thought[/ex]

4) fun (used relatively in restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses to represent a specified antecedent, the antecedent being a person or sometimes an animal or personified thing):

Any kid who wants to can learn to swim[/ex]

5) fun archaic the person or persons who

•

Etymology: bef. 900; ME; OE hwā, c. OS hwē, OHG hwer, Go hwas, L quis usage: Traditional grammar rules say that who is the correct form for the subject of a sentence or clause (Who said that? The guard who let us in checked our badges), and whom is used for the object of a verb or preposition (Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance?). This distinction is observed less and less in current English. The usage cited above is characteristic of formal writing and is generally followed in edited prose. In natural informal speech, however, whom is quite rare. whom still prevails as the object of a preposition when the preposition immediately precedes (all patients with whom you have had contact), but this juxtaposition tends to be avoided in both speech and writing, esp. in questions (Who is this gift from?) and sometimes by omission of the pronoun altogether (all patients you have had contact with).