How to use who in a sentence
40 example sentences · pronoun, noun, determiner
Who means what person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question. Example: “You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)”
Examples of who by meaning
pronounWhat person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
- You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)
- I don't know who it is. (indirect question)
- Who says they care? —They themselves do.
pronounWith antecedent as subject.
- That's the man who works at the newsagent. (defining)
- My sister, who works in the accounts department, just got promoted to manager. (non-defining)
- To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5...
pronounWith antecedent as object: whom.
- That's the man who I saw earlier.
- My brother, who you met the other day, is coming to stay for the weekend.
pronounWhoever, he who, they who.
- Who dares wins.
- Who insults my mother insults me.
- Give it to who deserves it.
pronounAlso used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or...
- Who are the Miami Heat?
nounA person under discussion; a question of which person.
- A wham-bam caper flick, efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson, that fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London bank heist.2008 March 21, The New York Times, “Movie Guide and Film Series”, in New York Times
determinerWhose.
- Who phone just rang?
More sentences with who
- I'm running a book on who is going to win the race.From the entry book
- This club takes a dim view of members who deal drugs.From the entry deal
- They are persons of ability, who will go far in life.From the entry ability
- Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands?From the entry number
- There is just one woman in town who can help us.From the entry be
- (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.From the entry be
- The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.From the entry most
- Who would win in a fight between an octopus and a dolphin?From the entry win
- Everyone who is drinking is drinking, but not everyone who is drinking is drinking.From the entry drink
- Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?From the entry you
- On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.From the entry would
- We'd like to thank all the contributors who have invested countless hours into this event.From the entry invest
- Stones were thrown at us, but we couldn't see who did.From the entry at
- This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.From the entry fall
- My dear man, you ought to think twice about who you're trying to blackmail.From the entry dear
- Raising six children who all went on to be doctors was a tough feat for us.From the entry feat
- He's the sort of lowlife who snorts coke and refers to it as his girl.From the entry girl
- This lawyer has no qualms about saving people who are on the wrong side of the law.From the entry qualm
- Those who think they know it all are annoying to those of us who do.From the entry all
- Thank you, sister. I would like to thank the sister who just spoke.From the entry sister
- All candidates who miss the deadline or make a spelling mistake in their applications are automatically rejected.From the entry candidate
- A sidewalk preacher gave an impassioned sermon while an assistant leafleted those who stayed to listen.From the entry leaflet
- The place is empty; we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.From the entry beat
- Her first novel contained a host of characters who were richly and convincingly drawn.From the entry draw
- Who knows? Maybe someday he'll finish writing his book and make lots of money selling it.From the entry who knows
- Since she hasn't studied at all I don't think she'll pass the test, but who knows?From the entry who knows
Meaning of who
- pronoun What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
- pronoun With antecedent as subject.
- pronoun With antecedent as object: whom.
Questions about who in a sentence
- How do you use who in a sentence?
- Who is used as a pronoun, noun and determiner. For example: “You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)”
- What is a short sentence with who?
- “Who dares wins.”
- What does who mean?
- Who means what person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: who (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use who in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/who. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.