Who

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sgiovanni  #69499  Sun, 23 Jan 05 06:36 PM
Which is correct:

A. Hello Bill.
B. Hello Sally.

Do you say:

Who is the person A.
or
Who is person A.

Why?
  
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CalifJim  #69511  Sun, 23 Jan 05 09:50 PM
You say, "Who is Person A?"

The expression "Person A" acts as a proper noun, the name of a person. "the" is not used in such cases.

Giacco: Hello, Bill. How are you?

I say, "Who is Giacco?", not "Who is the Giacco?"
I say, "Who is Bill?", not "Who is the Bill?"

"Giacco" and "Bill" are names by which we can identify the persons in question.

Similarly,

Person A: Hello, Bill. How are you?

I say, "Who is Person A?", not "Who is the Person A?"

"A" is an abbreviated way of saying "Person A", so the same applies to "A":

I say, "Who is A?" or "Who is Person A?", not "Who is the A?", or "Who is the Person A?"

I hope that helped.

CJ
  
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