What type of pronoun is WHO?

Answer 1

The pronoun 'who' is both a relative pronoun and an interrogative pronoun, depending on use.

• the pronoun 'who' is a subject pronoun, a word that take the place of a noun as the subject of a sentence or a clause.
• The relative pronoun 'who' introduces a relative clause (a group of words with a subject and a verb but is not a complete sentence) giving information about its antecedent.
• The interrogative pronoun 'who' introduces a question. The antecedent of the interrogative is normally the noun or pronoun that answers the question.

Examples:

The person who called will call back later. (relative pronoun, introduces the relative clause)

Who would like some ice cream? (interrogative pronoun, introduces a question)

Answer 2

The pronoun 'who' is a subjective interrogative pronoun, and a subjective relative pronoun.

The interrogative pronoun 'who' introduces a question.

The relative pronoun 'who' introduces a relative clause, a group of words that includes a verb (but is not a complete sentence) that gives information about the antecedent.

The objective form is 'whom'.

EXAMPLES

interrogative, subjective: Who is our math teacher?
relative, subjective: Mr. Lincoln who is new will be our math teacher.

interrogative, objective: To whom do I give my completed application form?
relative, objective: The person to whom you give the application is the manager.

Answer 3

The pronoun 'who' is a subjective form of interrogative pronoun and relative pronoun.

An interrogative pronoun is introduces a question. The pronoun 'who' takes the place of the noun for the person that is the answer to the question. The interrogative pronoun 'who' functions as the subject of the question.

A relative pronoun introduces a relative clause, a group of words that has a subject and a verb, but is not a complete sentence. A relative clause gives information about the antecedent (information that relates to the antecedent). The pronoun 'who' takes the place of the antecedent as the subject of the clause.

Examples:
Who gave you the flowers? (interrogative pronoun)
My neighbor who has a garden gave me the flowers. (relative pronoun)