Who's or Whose?
What Is the Difference between "Who's" and "Whose"?
"Who's" and "whose" are easy to confuse because they sound identical (i.e., they are perfect homonyms). However, their meanings are very different.- Who's. "Who's" is short for who is or who has.
- Who's going to the party? (Here, "who's" expands to who is.)
- Who's taken my hat? (Here, "who's" expands to who has.)
- Whose. "Whose" tells us about ownership. For example:
- I know a man whose dog can say "sausages." ("Whose" tells us that the man owns the dog.)
- Whose hat is this? (Here, "whose" asks a question about ownership.)
More about "Who's" and "Whose"
Who's
"Who's" is a contraction of either "who is" or "who has." It has no other uses.Example sentences with "who's":
- Who's coming to fix the bed? ("who is")
- Who's eaten the last muffin? ("who has")
- I met the inspector who's delivering tomorrow's briefing. ("who is")
"Whose"
"Whose" is the possessive form of "who." It means "belonging to whom." "Whose" usually sits before a noun.- Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. ("Whose" is before the noun "visit." "Whose" in this example is a relative pronoun.)
- Whose bike was expensive? ("Whose" is before the noun "bike." "Whose" in this example is an interrogative determiner.)
- Carl knows the girl whose phone was stolen. ("Whose" is before the noun "phone." "Whose" in this example is a relative pronoun.)
Even More about "Whose"
There's a lot going on with "whose."As well as being a relative pronoun, "whose" is a determiner. You will see it listed with possessive determiners and with interrogative determiners. Here is a table with "whose" used in each of these grammatical functions.
Examples as a Relative Pronoun |
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Examples as a Possessive and an Interrogative Determiner |
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