SINGULAR AND PLURAL.
Nominative.Who
Is the maiden to woo?
Genitive. Whose
Hand shall I choose?
Accusative. Whom
To despair shall I doom?
Which, that and what are indeclinable; except that whose is sometimes used as the possessive case of which; as,
"The roe, poor dear, laments amain,
Whose sweet hart was by hunter slain."
Who, which, and what, when they are used in asking questions, are called Interrogatives; as, "Who is Mr. Walker?" "Which is the left side of a round plum-pudding?" "What is the damage?"
Those who have made popular phraseology their study, will have found that which is sometimes used for whereas, and words of like signification; as in Dean Swift's "Mary the Cookmaid's Letter to Dr. Sheridan:"
"And now I know whereby you would fain make an excuse,
Because my master one day in anger call'd you a goose;
Which, and I am sure I have been his servant since October,
And he never called me worse than sweetheart, drunk or sober."
What, or, to speak more improperly, wot, is generally substituted by cabmen and hack-drivers for who; as, "The donkey wot wouldn't go." "The girl wot sweeps the crossing."
That, likewise, is very frequently rejected by the
