Who is reading or Who are reading?

sirlo

昨晚眼瞓沒上來,見到這麽多回應,先多謝!

今日又知道亞女的同學寫了 Who is reading? 但居然有"tick".  亞女個亞媽便找人把兩份workbook 問老師.  老師說應是 "Who is reading?"  但見到我女那份後, 又說 "Who are reading?" 都是可以.    

天啊! 亞女自求多福吧!

Sindy

原文章由 sirlo 於 07-11-20 23:52 硐表
昨晚眼瞓沒上來,見到這麽多回應,先多謝!

今日又知道亞女的同學寫了 Who is reading? 但居然有"tick".  亞女個亞媽便找人把兩份workbook 問老師.  老師說應是 "Who is reading?"  但見到我女那份後, 又說 "Who are  ...

你女係邊區讀書呀,如在港島區,可否pm我邊間呀?
唔方便既話,可否知道呢本英文書叫乜名呢?thanks

[ 本文章最後由 Sindy 於 07-11-21 00:33 編輯 ]

Unclejt

原文章由 Sindy 於 07-11-21 00:31 硐表
你女係邊區讀書呀,如在港島區,可否pm我邊間呀?
唔方便既話,可否知道呢本英文書叫乜名呢?thanks

My Pals Are Here, 2A, Workbook

Sindy

thanks,佢都啱啱 pm左我

原文章由 Unclejt 於 07-11-21 01:06 硐表

My Pals Are Here, 2A, Workbook

sirlo

原文章由 Unclejt 於 07-11-20 19:59 硐表
剛才和孩子做功課時，發現他很快也要做這個練習。到時再看老師怎樣說。由我教的話，我會選 are。

Dear Unclejt,
So interesting and could I know the result?

uncleedward

There are no grammar rules dictating that "who' must be followed  by "is" or "are". The choice depends on the intention of the person asking the question. In this example, the person asking the question clearly sees two persons reading a book together and is interested in knowing who they are. Logically, we use "who are ..." and expect the answer giving out the names of the children reading the book.

Unclejt

原文章由 sirlo 於 07-11-21 01:39 硐表


Dear Unclejt,
So interesting and could I know the result?

Of course, will share with you.

jk67jk

原文章由 Jsmami 於 07-11-20 22:06 硐表
For jk67jk, I will still ask "what is in the meeting room?"

Don't shoot me ...

Jsmami,

Hahaa~  then, I will be expecting an answer like,
"Monsters!"

Jsmami

jk67jk & christf,
My apology.  It's a typo.  LunMaMa knows my English is not that bad!  Of course, it should be "who" instead of "what" ops:" />

Sirlo,
Seeing your response from the teacher is comforting.  At least the teacher admits "who is" is not wrong.  I am curious which school your daughter is studying at, if u don't mind sending me a PM

[ 本文章最後由 Jsmami 於 07-11-21 21:39 編輯 ]

Fion_Chan

原文章由 christf 於 07-11-21 23:49 硐表
I am sorry that even "who is" is wrong in this case. It should be "who are"

So the example is absolutely wrong. Should we write to the publisher of My Pals are Here?

3lamma

sirlo,

坦白講, 覺得問題好有趣, 我都想分享.

我會覺得好視乎問人那位是否已知答案, 即用甚麼身份到問.
例如, 我不肯定有那個人在隔離鑽牆, 我會問 who's making that noise?
但如果我是老師, 問小朋友一個問題是老師已知多過一個人的, 我會改用who are making that noise? 來引導學生答多過一個人.

所以妳女女的想法是對的; 老師也有自己的論點, 他認為妳是自問自答, 已知答案便填are.  

3lamma

Rham

原文章由 Fion_Chan 於 07-11-23 14:04 硐表


So the example is absolutely wrong. Should we write to the publisher of My Pals are Here?

據我所知，"Who is reading?"不單只不是錯，更是唔少 native speaker 的說法，請參看：

What Do You Do with What and Who?
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2004/07/09/what-do-you-do-with-what-and-who/
”For example, even if I tell you, “A lot of people are coming to my party,” it would sound pretty strange for you to ask, “Really? Who are coming?””

What's the plural to "Who is it"?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071024125405AAoidUm
"What's going on here is this. "Who" can be treated as a singular form OR as a plural, depending on what you are emphasizing. When you say"Who was at the party?" you are not emphasizing individuals, but 'lumping them all together', or even ignoring the question of how many people (it might be one, it might be many)."

類似情況，不單只 Who 會出現，There 也會出現：

There is and there are
http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/search?q=plural

我參巧過其他專門討論英語的 forum，似乎多數 native speaker 會用 "Who is it?" 除非因某些原因，你好想特別強調那是眾數。

例如，老師在課堂上問問題，明知大部份人都識答，佢都會用 "Who knows the answer?" 而不是 "Who know the answer?"

[ 本文章最後由 Rham 於 07-11-23 23:41 編輯 ]

Unclejt

原文章由 Rham 於 07-11-23 21:54 硐表


據我所知，"Who is reading?"不單只不是錯，更是唔少 native speaker 的說法，請參看：

What Do You Do with What and Who?
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2004/07/09/what-do-you-do-with-what-and-who/
”For exa ...

我們可能忘記了這 topic 的主題是：該如何回答一樓那個作業問題。而那問題是 "Look at the picture.  Writethree questions about it using who." 當我們 look at the picture時，清清楚楚看到兩個女孩子坐在草地上看書。我們便問，這兩個女孩子是誰？那為甚麼不是 are 呢？

Rham

原文章由 Unclejt 於 07-11-23 22:23 硐表
我們可能忘記了這 topic 的主題是：該如何回答一樓那個作業問題。而那問題是 "Look at the picture.  Writethree questions about it using who." 當我們 look at the picture時，清清楚楚看到兩個女孩子坐在草地上看書 ...

如我前文所說，即使明知是眾數，不少 native speaker 都係用 "Who is ....?" 請參看以上例子。

好多時語言是活的，文法是死的，習慣用法是這樣就是這樣！當然，"Who are .....?" 絕不是錯，不過有啲 native speaker 會話怪怪哋囉！

Rham

原文章由 christf 於 07-11-23 22:58 硐表
Go to check any reasonable dictionaries if you don't believe and you will find the answer is so simple that if you aleady know that you are referring to more than one person, we should use "who are" instead of"who is"

Not all the native speakers speak or write correct.  Don't blindly believe on native speakers.  Many native speakers always use poor expression, incorrect grammars, wrong spelling... etc.

我以上引的例子（除了 Yahoo answers 那個之外），都是一些咬文嚼字的 native speaker 談論 English language 特性的內容，不是除便周街揾個。

若論 grammar, verb 要 agree with subject.  但當 who, there 等情況，無 subject 可 agree,就要 agree with complement. 這些都是 standard English grammar.  但在 "Who is reading ....?" 的情況，連 complement 都唔知係 singular 定 plural,你用 is/are 便不是 grammar 問題，是 semantics 的問題。

Semantics 的分析比 grammar 要更複雜，好睇你想 emphasize 甚麼。這些情況，字典往往幫不上忙。

你認同又好，唔認同又好，但我的觀察是好多香港人學英文，只懂跟 grammar 書，以為一定只可以有一個"正確"的答案，但這想法其實只是一個神話。

[ 本文章最後由 Rham 於 07-11-23 23:39 編輯 ]