Which refer to people

But: Igor stomped on the cockroach that crawled along the floor. Sometimes, however, we use that to refer to people, usually a generic type of person: The writers that learn these rules will improve their work.

Or you could use that to refer in a restrictive way to an identifiable person: The child that made the A addressed the class. These days we never use which to refer to a person. Finally, as noted above, when an inanimate object or abstraction needs to show possession in a clause, we can either use the rather stuffy of which or we can borrow from the personal relative pronouns and use whose : It was an idea whose time had come.

Surely, as mentioned above, no one would write: It was an idea the time of which had come. Email Print.

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Forgot your password? Yes, of course "which" can refer to people, although usually it is paired with something else indicating a selection is being made.

Which twin had her hair permed using our product? Which of those men is your father? She was not sure which boy had left the note. Give the order to whichever worker you see first. Thank you, guys! Very clear indeed. Antara Manova Member Bulgarian Bulgaria. Very helpful, indeed! You must log in or register to reply here. Replies sorted oldest to newest. Skip to main content. M mt Member. The following is a sentence from US world news.

So Wang has dispatched her nephews and nieces - the youngest of which is 60 - to find her a mate. Is it acceptable to use a relative pronoun "which" to refer to people? Original Post. MH Marius Hancu Member. The stats at the New York Times are: 24 from nytimes. RM Rachel, Moderator Member. Of the 24 examples that Jerry found, "most of which" refers to non-human antecedents, such as "B24s airplanes and cows.