Fill in the blank with the most suitable option from the words given below.
The students ______ came late to the class, have missed out on some important concepts.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → who
Complete sentence: The students who came late to the class, have missed out on some important concepts. Here "the students" are persons, and the pronoun is the subject of "came late".
| Option | Form and use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) who (answer) | A relative pronoun joins a clause to the noun it describes. Who is used for persons when the pronoun is the subject of its clause. | The boy who won the race is my cousin. |
| (2) which | "which" is used for things and animals, not for persons. | – |
| (3) whom | "whom" is the object form. Here the pronoun is the subject of "came". | – |
| (4) whose | "whose" shows possession and must be followed by a noun (the students whose books ...). | – |
Contrast: who is the subject form for persons (who came late). Whom is the object form.