What's the difference between using who's and whose?
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mangeons (
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August 12th, 2010
As many people might know, I’m a big grammar/spelling person. But one thing I’ve never been able to get is the difference between who’s and whose. Are they interchangeable? Or are they supposed to be used in certain ways? This is one of the most confusing grammar rules to me!
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18 Answers
Who’s = Who is. If you’re not saying who is, then use whose. It’s really not much different than its and it’s, where people get it confused and use it’s (which is it is) when they’re saying “its ball is round” because they’ve been taught that noun+‘s makes it a posesive.
“Whose” is possessive. “Who’s” is a contraction of “who is”.
“Who’s going to the park?”
“Whose baseball bat is this?”
The apostrophe in who’s gives you the major clue. It replaces the “i” in “is.” Who is = who’s.
Whose is a interrogative adjective/pronoun. It is usualy used to modify a noun…“Whose horse is that in my hallway?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I note that there is a horse in my hallway. Whose is it?”
Okay, I feel kind of stupid now because I know that when there is an apostrophe it means ___ is, (it’s=it is, etc.) but I guess I was just thinking of it being in the possessive term, like when you’re using names. So thanks for clearing that up!
Everybody above is correct, and an easy way to remember is just to say to yourself, “who is” when you’re not sure. If it makes sense, use “who’s” If it doesn’t, use “whose.”
Whose line is it anyway?
Who’s interested in Grammar? He is, he’s; she is, she’s!
Who’s asking, and whose opinion do you want?
The apostrophe meaning possessive is only available for nouns, not pronouns. On pronouns, it’s a contraction only.
“it’s” means “it is”, not “belonging to it”. “She’s” means “she is”, not “belonging to she”.
They are not interchangeable. who’s is an abbreviation of who is. If you can’t replace the word with who is then the correct one to use is whose.
Don’t feel stupid, grammar can be confusing! Glad you found your answer @mangeons :)
Oh hey, don’t forget you can also say ‘To whom’ instead of ‘whose’, for example:
‘To whom does this baseball bat belong?’ As well as ‘Whose baseball bat is this?’
‘whom’ is an object, ‘who’ is a subject.
@Seek_Kolinahr Stole your example, thanks :P
Who’s=Who is
Whose=Who has
@PsychoticDiscoMonkey: Sorry. Whose does not mean who has, ever,
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the ”Who’s on first?” routine. It’s dated but still makes the point.
That’s a way to confuse everyone.
Abbot and Constello
@gailcalled
”...and ’I don’t give a darn!”
“Oh, that’s our shortstop!”
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