Who / What can be used as either the subject of a question, or the object, when we want to ask about the subject / object.
Who is used when the subject / object is people: somebody, someone
What is used when the subject / object is not a person – things, ideas, animals, etc.: something
Jack called Jill on the phone. ==> Who called Jill on the phone?
I invited Tom to the party. . ==> Who did you invite to the party?
(To be absolutely proper, “whom” is the object form: Whom did you invite to the party? But in American English, we commonly do not distinguish between “who” and “whom.” You can, of course, use “whom,” and it will be completely okay. Just be aware that most Americans do not use it.)
Questions with “Who” as subject:
Who called on the phone?
Who gave you that nice present?
Who is coming to the party?
Who won the election?
Who took my coat?
Questions with “What” as subject:
What happened to the car?
What gave you the idea I was going on vacation?
What stung me on the cheek?
What is in the box?
What has four wings and flies?
What’s wrong with Tom?
Questions with “who” as object:
Who did you see at the library?
Who was Mr. Collins angry at?
Who did the doctor operate on?
Who is Johnny taking piano lessons from?
Questions with “what” as object:
What is Jacob doing?
What was the correct answer to problem number 3?
What did you do in school today?
What was Moses doing in the dark?
What is your name?
We now have more ways to turn a sentence into a question:
The cat caught a mouse. ==>
What caught a mouse?
or
What did the cat catch?
Janice gave the baby a bath. ==>
Who gave the baby a bath?
or
Who did Janice give a bath to?
Peter ate a piece of cake. ==>
Who ate a piece of cake?
or
What did Peter eat?
Exercise. Use the following sentences to write questions, using either Who or What for the subject.
Example:
Somebody got in trouble for the prank. ==> Who got in trouble for the prank?
Something got in my eye. ==> What got in your eye?
1. Somebody ate my porridge.
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2. Someone’s been sleeping in my bed.
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3. Something made a strange noise in the basement.
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4. Someone gave me a pair of free tickets.
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5. Something frightened the chickens.
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6. Something caused the dinosaurs to become extinct.
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7. Something’s wrong with the TV.
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8. Somebody turned off the lights.
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9. Somebody brought a cake for the class party.
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10. Something made me cancel my vacation plans.
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Exercise. Use the following sentences to write questions, using either Who or What for the object.
Example:
John ran into someone at the train station. ==> Who did John run into at the train station?
Mary ate something for lunch. ==> What did Mary eat for lunch?
1. Tony asked someone to the dance.
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2. The cat has something in its mouth.
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3. Steve is going to the store to get something.
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4. The police arrested someone for the arson.
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5. The teacher picked someone to be his helper.
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6. Jack wrote something on the back of the picture.
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7. The prince married someone at the end of the fairy tale.
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8. The waiter brought Jane something to drink.
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9. The farmer put something on the plants to make them grow.
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10. The doctor operated on someone.
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Exercise. Ask a question using who or what to find the missing information.
Example:
I bought a XXXXX for a souvenir, and XXXXX got some postcards. ==>
What did you get for a souvenir?
Who got postcards?
1. Tom took a picture of Becky sitting on XXXXX, but XXXXX didn’t want his picture taken.
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2. On our vacation we went to see XXXXX. Mother also wanted to see XXXXX.
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3. XXXXX wrote many famous fairy tales. He also wrote many XXXXX.
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4. We packed XXXXX, but XXXXX forgot his toothbrush.
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5. The children caught XXXXX in the creek. XXXXX caught the most of all.
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