1

I'm wondering if it is possible to use 'who' in a sentence like this: 'the name of the government body who has assigned an identification number to the document.'

herisson
  • 81,803
Irina
  • 9
  • 1
    Sure, you’d be in the same company as Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth—all famous writers. You might, however, annoy a few modern complainers who think you should use who/whose to refer to people and animals only. Grammar Girl – NVZ Jun 07 '16 at 07:13
  • Related: Is it “a company who makes …” or “a company that makes…”?, 'Who' or 'which' in reference to companies, “Managers are one group to which” vs. “managers are one group to whom” – herisson Jun 07 '16 at 07:28
  • A "goverment body"/company etc can be thought of as a single entity or a group of people - "who" fits the latter definition. Strictly speaking, with this logic, you should say "the government body who have assigned", but this feels weird to me. – Max Williams Jun 07 '16 at 07:38
  • It's much simpler than that: "a government body," "a corporate body," "an organization," and so on are, as the OP already noted, inanimate and take which, not who. Unless the entity itself is referred to in such a way as to reflect it as a group of people (constituting the governement body, etc.). "The EPA, which has refused permission, ...;" but "The (members of the ) board of certification," who were unanimous in their opinion, ...." Also, "The police was on the look out ...; " and "The police (-men) were on the look out." – Kris Jun 07 '16 at 07:50
  • @sumelic We cannot oversimplify any more than that. – Kris Jun 07 '16 at 07:52
  • @sumelic: I agree that this is an interesting question, & researching it is a challenge (though a search with "who what" narrows it down a bit). But even the inclusion of a link to an inadequate Q&A and a comment that "this doesn't seem to help" would show effort and help avoid drive-by downvotes. Which, by the way, I consciously avoid, having been hugely discouraged by them in my first few weeks as a new member of this site (although a user of ELU for over 4 years). – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Jun 07 '16 at 08:14

0 Answers0