1

Which of the following is correct ?

Who were these buildings designed by?

Or

Who was these buildings designed by?

Does were/was refer to "these buildings" or "who"?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    The question is usually in the same form as the answer. So the answer might be these buildings were designed by Lutyens - the subject of the verb is the buildings. So, the question is "Who were these buildings designed by>". You could also say "Who was the architect who designed these buildings? Lutyens was the architect. – davidlol Mar 9 '17 at 13:33
  • Or rephrasing can help: These buildings were designed by whom? – Davo Mar 9 '17 at 13:54
  • In your highlighted sentences, the grammatical number of was/were should agree with the number of designers, not the number of buildings. – Lawrence Mar 11 '17 at 13:16
2

"Who were these buildings designed by?" Would be correct.

The subject is "buildings", and "were" is the verb.

Improve this answer
1
  • If these buildings are supposed to be designed by one person... – Zhang Sep 18 '18 at 6:03

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy