... are those girls? They are students. Which choice do you think is correct?

[Sitifan]

John: ___ are those girls? Tom: They are students.
(A) Who (B) What
Which choice do you think is correct?
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Thank you very much for your reply.

[Jamie (K)]

I'd use "who". Calling a person "what" sounds demeaning.

[Ms.Unique]

Hello,

I'd use 'who' too, coz what dosen't make sense in that question.

[Ms.Unique]

Hello,

I'd use 'who' too, coz what dosen't make sense in that question.

[Daemon99]

What about the following conversation?

A: What is your father? (What does your father do for a living?)
B: He's a doctor.

Now if I ask "What are those girls?", doesn't it mean, "What's the profession of those girls?" ?
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Non-native speaker of English
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I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

[Yankee]

Hi Daemon

I'd put it this way:

I would not dive right into a question about someone's profession by asking "What is (someone)?" if there had not already been some previous discussion about professions.

The question "What is (someone)?" does not inherently mean "What is (someone's) profession?" But it could be used to mean that in the right context.
.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Jamie (K)]

[Lost_Soul]