who · which · that
Who introduces a clause about a person. Which introduces one about a thing. That does either, in defining clauses only.
who · which · that
Who introduces a clause about a person. Which introduces one about a thing. That does either, in defining clauses only.
العربي يستخدم «الذي» و«التي» للأشخاص والأشياء مع تغيّر الجنس والعدد. والإنجليزي يقسّمها بطريقة ثانية: who للأشخاص و which للأشياء، وما تتغيّر مع المفرد أو الجمع. عشان كذا الغلط يتكرر حتى عند اللي مستواه عالي.
the people which think the people who think
the report who arrived the report which arrived
Pattern, not instance — one decision governs both lines: is the thing before the pronoun a person or not.
Worked examples · constructed, not candidate work. No attention stamp, because nobody wrote them.
| Pattern | Holds when |
|---|---|
| who + verb | The pronoun is the subject of the clause — *the marker who read it*. |
| whom + subject | The pronoun is the object — *the marker whom we asked*. Formal writing; rare in speech. |
| that | Defining clauses only, with no comma. After a comma the pronoun is who or which, never that. |
| no pronoun | Droppable when it is the object — *the task I submitted*. Never when it is the subject. |
The page ends here. Nothing is appended to make it look longer.