Who vs Which Exercises

A2 Level

In English, we use who for people and which for things when we want to add extra information about a noun. For example: "The teacher who helped me was very kind" — teacher is a person, so we use who. "The book which I bought is really interesting" — book is a thing, so we use which. You can also use that for both people and things: "The teacher that helped me" and "The book that I bought" are both correct and very common in everyday English.

A common mistake is using which for people — "The man which called me" is wrong. It should be "The man who called me" or "The man that called me." A simple test: if you are talking about a person, always choose who or that. For animals, you can use either which or who, but which is more common. For places, use where, and for times, use when — you will learn these in later exercises. This basic who vs which rule is a key building block for more advanced grammar.

Quick Rule

who (people) / which (things) / that (both)

  • 1.The woman who works here is my aunt. (who — the woman is a person)
  • 2.I read a book which was very exciting. (which — the book is a thing)
  • 3.The dog that lives next door barks all night. (that — used for an animal)
  • 4.She doesn't like people who are always late. (who — negative sentence about people)
  • 5.Where is the letter which arrived this morning? (which — the letter is a thing)