In the passing away of Mr XYZ, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and...
Q: Do we need the comma after "sportsperson"? With the comma, does "who" refer to "colossal sportsperson in general"?
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Sign up to join this communityIn the passing away of Mr XYZ, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and...
Q: Do we need the comma after "sportsperson"? With the comma, does "who" refer to "colossal sportsperson in general"?
...we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and...
... and had a special place in the hearts of countless Indians.
My take on it is that in the context of the quote, the absence of a comma would show that the "who captured the nation's imagination and..." part, to the person being quoted, is the essential bit of information about the deceased.
At the same time, since the phrase following "who" is quite long, the comma would provide the "breathing space" @Katy Bunting has mentioned.
Besides, either with or without the comma, there wouldn't appear any ambiguity reading and understanding the whole sentence.
With the comma, does "who" refer to "colossal sportsperson in general"?
Paraphrased as "What is the "who" referred to--the person's name or his occupation?", the question could be answered: "Depending on whether you decided to put or not to put the comma. With the comma, it would be the person's name, and without it--his occupation."