No native speaker i've ever heard has ever said who is that? or i know who that is in a phone conversation. You say it while pointing to a person. Who is this? is a direct question.
I think you're probably right. This seems to me to imply. As a be speaker, i see the that referring to the disembodied voice that could belong to a complete stranger who,.
May i know who this is? is also a direct question, but the part that forms the direct question is may i know.? who this is is. If i were the australian friend, i guess i'd have misunderstood the question too at first. Who is this和who is that的区别: 1、who is this 的意思是:这是谁。who is that 的意思是:那是谁。 2、心里上的远近不同;who is this 体现近;who is that 体现远。 3、在打. Who is this for? could imply the wallet was perhaps a present prepared for somebody.
This is a pointer word: I think it depends on what you mean by 'correct'. For whom are these books? is grammatically correct. When answering a phone call or asking who is knocking the door, is it more polite to use who is this? than who is it?, because it is more often to be used to refer an object or.
Whom is the object of the verb. However, its use in everyday speech. I agree with pickle55 for the most part. It may not be technically wrong but it sounds just a bit awkward to me to say who is that? over the phone.
The normal reply is this is judy or this is my mother, not.