Forming a "Who" Question

ALULA staff, Updated on October 12, 2023

The "who is..." pattern is used to ask about identity or a person or people.
In subject questions, 'who' is used to find out the person performing an action. The form is: "Who" + verb + (other words) ?
'Who' can also be used in object questions. In this case, it's seeking the indirect object of an action. The form is: "Who" + helping verb ("do" or "does") + subject + verb ?

Let's talk about the very important question word, 'Who'. The question word "Who" is used to ask for the identity of a person or people.

Who is...

You can make a simple question using: "Who is ...?" or "Who are ...?" These questions are used to ask about identity of a person or people.

Examples:

Who is your teacher?

Question word ("Who") + be verb ("is") + subject complement ("your teacher")?
Who are those people?

Question word ("Who") + be verb ("are") + subject complement ("those people")?

Who in Subject Questions

In English, we use 'who' to ask about the subject of a sentence. 'Who' is used to find out which person performed an action.

The form is: "Who" + verb + (other words) ?

Examples:

Who likes ice cream?

Question word ("Who") + verb ("likes") + object ("ice cream")?
Who studies every day?

Question word ("Who") + verb ("studies") + other words ("every day")?

Who in Object Questions

'Who' can also be used in object questions. In an object question, "Who" is seeking the indirect object of an action.

The form is: "Who" + helping verb ("do" or "does") + subject + verb ?

Who in an object question with a direct object

Examples:

Who do you like?

Question word ("Who") + helping verb ("do") + subject ("you") + verb ("like")?
Who does your teacher teach?

Question word ("Who") + helping verb ("does") + subject ("your teacher") + verb ("teach")?
Who do I send this email? (or Who do I send this email to?)

Question word ("Who") + helping verb ("do") + subject ("I") + verb ("send") + direct object ("this email")?

Note, the question word "Who" is looking for the indirect object of the action. The direct object is "this email".

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