Dare/dares

"Who" is an interogative pronoun and can be singular or plural. If you ask, "Who is at the door" it could be one person or a group of people.

Thanks! But is it also OK to use "dare" as a modal verb?

Example: "He dare challenge me?"

"He dare challenge me?" is incorrect. ("He" is singular.) However, "How dare he challenge me?" is correct.

Even if it acts as a modal verb?

Another example: "He dare not do it."

It really depends on how the sentence is constructed:


- A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993.

Thanks for being patient with me. however, I still have one question left.

So, if the word dare is used as a main verb and not a modal verb in the phrase "Who dare challenge me?" then does this mean that phrasing it this way would also be correct? "Who want to challenge me?".

Since you stated that who is an interrogative pronoun and that it can either be singular or plural, I'm assuming "who want to challenge me?" Should also be correct.

I can give another example. Here: "Who want these candies?"

It's possible to imagine a context where this usage would work but it's not a construction commonly found in normal speech. I lack sufficient knowledge to provide a detailed and authoritative your question. Sorry.

May I ask, are you a native English speaker?

I am not a native English speaker. Why?

Just curious. You handle the language very well. It's just interesting to me how many complicated grammatical rules are absorbed when you are immersed in the language for your whole life. Many native English speakers use the language correctly without any idea of the formal rules behind the usage. It just sounds "right". I like trying to answer these sorts of questions because I learn about rules of English which I was unaware of previously but still manage, mostly, to follow.