What does '' who '' refer to ? Is this sentence grammatically correct ?
There was a friend of this woman, who loves me.
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Hi. Where did you find this sentence? What is the context?– Billy KerrCommented Dec 9, 2023 at 18:23
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Your example sentence is ambiguous and poorly punctuated. Where did you encounter it?– Paul TanenbaumCommented Dec 9, 2023 at 18:24
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I wanted to say that the one who loves me is this woman's friend. Did I write it wrong?– emilywenlyCommented Dec 9, 2023 at 18:31
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1“This woman has a friend who loves me”? But if that’s what you mean, then why the past tense there was?– Paul TanenbaumCommented Dec 9, 2023 at 20:14
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Or “One of this woman’s friends loves me”?– Paul TanenbaumCommented Dec 9, 2023 at 20:14
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1 Answer
This is a poorly constructed sentence. You could probably create a context in which it would be valid, but it would be unusual.
I think your question is about the "who" part. So if you change the tense to agree, it helps:
(1) There is a friend of this woman who loves me.
(2) There is a friend of this woman, who loves me.
I believe that:
In (1), who refers to the woman.
In (2), who refers to the friend.
