You who think or thinks

Question

Some days ago I heard a teacher saying the sentence:

I want to talk to you who thinks differently from the crowd.

It sounded unnatural, but if you consider that 'who' is the relative pronoun ruling the verb, he is right. Can you clear that out to/ for me?

Thank you!

It's usually "you who think", "I who am", "those who are", etc. You don't make verbs agree with "who". — Peter Shor, Jan 15 '21 at 14:17
Confusion may come from something like "You are he who thinks differently," where thinks goes with he, not you, as @PeterShor implies. This question must be a duplicate, but they can be difficult to find... — Andrew Leach, Jan 15 '21 at 14:32
Thank you, Andrew. Yes, in the example you quoted, it can be confusing. — user411563, Jan 15 '21 at 14:43
Does this answer your question? Is "It is you who are mistaken!" correct? — niamulbengali, Jan 15 '21 at 14:57

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 15 '21 at 15:02

Most speakers in most situations would make the verb agree with you. But there are attested examples where the agreement is instead with who treated as 3rd person singular. It is less common, for sure, but apparently acceptable for some native speakers.

And, believe me, woe to you who insults the intelligence community, if you're president.
^{From PBS NewsHour for January 5, 2017, via COCA}

Everybody listening to you who talks about one of the great issues in American life today, which is the plight of the middle class…
^{From CBS 60 MINUTES 2017/09/10, via COCA}

If you are doing your job right and attracting the best talent, then it is the entrepreneur who will be choosing you as opposed to you who is choosing the entrepreneur.
^{From 'The Most Important Job Interview Question' - Anthony Tjan - Harvard 2012, via COCA}

We bow to you who is renowned as a Saint.
^{From a translation by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, in Sources of Tibetan Tradition. Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Matthew T. Kapstein, and Gray Tuttle, Eds. United States: Columbia University Press, 2013. (link)}

Wow! Some many great examples! Thank you for your time! – user411563 Jan 15 '21 at 17:21 — user411563, Jan 15 '21 at 17:21

You who think or thinks

1 Answers1