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Which one of the following is correct:

  1. What do residential areas in a big city look like, and who lives there?

  2. What do residential areas in a big city look like, and who live there?

There are more people there, so would "live" be correct?

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Caroline Sitskoorn
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4 Answers4

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This is a compound sentence. Try breaking it apart.

What do residential areas in a big city look like? Who lives there?

"Who live there?" would sound wrong, no? While "who" might refer to many people, it is treated as singular in an interrogative where the verb acting on the interrogative pronoun isn't a form of "to be".

  • Who lives there?
  • Who does that?
  • Who eats this kind of food?

If that verb is a form of "to be", then the verb agrees with the number of the predicate.

  • Who are the people that live there?
  • Who are the people that do that?
  • Who are the people that eat this kind of food?
Paul Rowe
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  • What are you including as copular verbs? The term is ill-defined. Be does seem to be very special in this respect, but seem and appear also take plural agreement: 'Who seem best suited to these conditions?' – Edwin Ashworth Mar 04 '15 at 23:36
  • Could you provide a grammar source to support your opinion? – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 00:13
  • Who the heck is upvoting this answer? – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 02:50
  • @EdwinAshworth To my ears, using any verb other than "be" in the plural sounds unnatural at best. – Paul Rowe Mar 05 '15 at 14:59
  • @EdwinAshworth I see your point about my use of the word. I had derived the definition of copula from context and not known it also applied to seem and appear. As commented before, they sound unnatural in this situation: "Who seem ...?" or, "Who appear...?" – Paul Rowe Mar 05 '15 at 15:03
  • Yes – this seems a complex situation. I can't think why it was migrated from ELU. I'd say that echo questions always sound acceptable, irrespective of the verb: --'The Visi-elbonians live in that swamp.' --'Who live there?' However, in most other settings, use of plural agreement after interrogative who sounds, as you say, very unnatural. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 05 '15 at 15:08
  • @F.E. I am having trouble finding a grammar source. I was basing my statement on my own analysis of situations. If you can find a natural-sounding sentence that violates my answer, feel free to elaborate. – Paul Rowe Mar 05 '15 at 15:15
  • Here's a post that has some related info: Which is the correct question (“Who has” vs “Who have”)? That post also contains excerpts from the 2002 reference grammar CGEL and the 1985 reference grammar by Quirk et al. You will notice that your answer is not consistent with those reference grammars. – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 21:37
  • Also, notice the 2002 CGEL's example: [20.ii] "Who haven't yet handed in their assignments?", which has no form of the BE verb in it. And also consider the unremarkable: "Who haven't yet contributed to the SPCA?" Those are counter examples to your answer post. – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 21:47
  • @F.E. These are good counter examples and sources thereof. I'll admit, though, that they don't sound natural to my (American) ear. Certainly, I personally would prefer "has" to "have" in those sentences. – Paul Rowe Mar 05 '15 at 21:53
  • It depends on the context. Though, the singular is usually the default (but there are exceptions where the plural is obligatory), the context and the speaker's intent and expectation of the type of answer they expect to hear will be a major factor in how the speaker will form the question (whether to use a singular or plural verb). – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 21:56
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    Who haven't faced each other in the competition yet? obviously takes an obligatory plural verb agreement – Edwin Ashworth Mar 05 '15 at 22:50
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Saying who lives there is correct. You can't say who live there, however you can say those/the ones who live there but that would change the meaning as follows:

What do residential areas in a big city look like, and who (meaning "what kind of person") lives there?

What do residential areas in a big city look like, and [what do] those who live there [look like]?

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blgt
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"Who lives there" would be correct, but the "who" implication for the listener should be understood as "what kind of people"; such as, "well-to-do professionals", "construction workers and lumberjacks", "poor Haitian refugees" or whatever

Kolchak
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  • Could you provide a grammar source to support your opinion? – F.E. Mar 05 '15 at 00:15
  • Why can't I, just having come to stay with my aunt in her quaint little village after she's written to me so many times telling me what the locals get up to, point to a lovely little cottage and ask her 'Who lives there?'? – Edwin Ashworth Mar 05 '15 at 15:24
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This is a very intelligent question.

If I recall all such sentences, I see that 'who' in itself is singular. That's because if you ask a simple question, who ______ there? The obvious verb there is 'lives' and not 'live'.

On the other hand, if provided with some context, 'who' can address to a plural word as well.

I'm referring to those who are wearing red tee.

Having said that, 'who' on its own seems singular, but provided with context, can serve to a plural word as well.

Maulik V
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  • Too imprecise. There is always context. Who do they think they are? is perfectly grammatical (and probably more importantly, natural-sounding). You probably intend to distinguish between interrogative and relative pronoun usages. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 05 '15 at 15:17