Questions with Who
The question word Who is used to ask about somebody who is doing an action or somebody who of an action.
• Most of correct answers will mention a person’s name, title, position, or his/her company’s name.
The most important thing when listening to responses to a question with Who is to think of some proper noun. The proper noun may be a person’s name or a geographical name. Besides, the correct responses may mention a person’s title or position. So, you should learn vocabulary about professions, positions, and titles.
• Sometimes, questions with the question word Who may have correct responses indicating a location/place.
Who has the copy of the budget report?
—> It’s on your desk.
• When the listener is not sure about the response, he/she can say I have no idea./l’m not sure./I don’t know./Why are you asking?
• For information questions with question words, it is absolutely wrong if you choose the responses starting with Yes/No.
• Some responses which contain similar sounding words or words of the same form but different parts of speech are often used as distractors. You need to fully understand the questions to be able to choose the appropriate responses.
Example
Who will replace Mr. Freeman when he leaves?
(A) Mr. Washington will.
(B) Yes, it’s a beautiful area.
(C) I’m not sure where he lives.
Even if you only hear the phrase Who will, you can easily choose response (A) because it refers to a person's name. Response (B) is absolutely wrong because it starts with Yes. Response (C) entraps you by using the word lives which sounds similar to leaves in the question.
Always remember that repeated words or similar sounding words like those in the questions are often the distractors.
Structure 1
Who is/are/was/were + noun?
Q Who is the woman?
A She is my new secretary.
Possible responses:
Test-Taking Strategies
Pay attention to the phrase Who is and, especially, the noun or pronoun after it, which primarily refers to a person, his/her title or position such as man, woman, member, supervisor, intern, receptionist, guest, etc. Most often, the present simple tense (is/are) is used, but sometimes the past simple tense (was/were) may also be used.
Structure 2
Who + verb (present tense/past tense) + object?
Q Who has this month’s sales report?
A I have it right here.
Possible responses:
Test-Taking Strategie
Listen to the verbs and their objects. Also pay attention to their tenses and the pronunciation of the past forms.
■ When the verb have in the question carries the meaning of possession (as the verb own), the answer might refer to a location.
Who has the key?
-> It’s on the shelf.
■ The correct response may repeat the same past verb as the one in the question or use the auxiliary verb did to replace it, e.g. "person’s name/title/position + did", or “I think it was + person’s name/title/position".
Who told you to cancel the appointment?
-> My manager did. /1 think it was Mr. Ford.
Structure 3
Who will + bare infinitive/be + V-ing?
Who is going to + bare infinitive?
Who is supposed to + bare infinitive?
Q Who will replace Ms. Clinton after she retires?
A Mr. Chang, our marketing manager
Possible responses:
Test-Taking Strategies
These questions ask about what will happen in the future. You should pay attention to the verbs after the word will or the phrase be going to/be supposed to. Besides, the speaker may not clearly pronounce the phrase Who will, but he/she will use the contracted form Who’ll.
The correct responses will contain the future tenses such as will/be going to/be V-ing. Some¬times, modal verbs like can/could/have to may also be used in the correct responses.
■ Also, verbs in the past simple or present perfect tense may be seen in the correct responses. I thought it was you.
-> The past simple tense can be used to express a guess.
We have not decided yet.
-> When the listener is not sure about the answer, I have no idea or I am not sure is also commonly used.