Who’s going to tell us whose idea this was?

English has many tricky homophones, like too, to, and two; they’re, there, and their; and you’re and your. Today we’ll focus on who’s and whose, which are particularly confusing when used in adjective clauses. Help your students remember which one to use by presenting these terms using the method below.

Who’s

Meaning

Who's is short for who is (or, more infrequently, who has). It involves a subject pronoun used for one person (usually in a question or adjective clause) and a third person singular verb.

Structure

Who’s usually comes at the beginning of a sentence when it’s a question. For adjective clauses, who’s comes after the subject or object noun it’s describing. For noun clauses, who’s comes at the beginning of a sentence or after the main subject and verb.

Tricks

1. Say who is to yourself as you read or write the sentence. If it’s possible to say who is, write who’s, not whose.
2. Look at the noun that follows. If there is an article like a, an, or the, use who’s. Also, if there is no noun, use who’s.

Examples

• Who’s coming to the party tonight? (Who is, no noun following)
• My friend who’s a nurse said that I had the flu. (who is, followed by a noun with article a)
• The lead singer, who’s famous for his antics onstage, jumped into the crowd. (who is, no noun following)

Whose

Meaning

Whose is a possessive adjective that means “belonging to or associated with a person or people.”

Structure

Whose has the same structure as who’s, which is why it can be confusing. Like who’s, whose usually comes at the beginning of a sentence when it’s a question, after the subject or object noun it’s describing in adjective clauses, and at the beginning of a sentence or after the main subject and verb for noun clauses.

Tricks

1. Say who is to yourself as you read or write the sentence. If it’s not possible to say who is, write whose, not who’s.
2. Look at the noun that follows the term. If there is no article like a, an, or the, use whose. Also, whose must be followed by a noun. So if there is no noun, use who’s.

Examples

• Our mayor, whose name I can never remember, set a city-wide curfew. (not who is name, followed by a noun with no article)
• The person whose car is parked illegally in front should immediately move it. (not who is car, followed by a noun with no article)
• Whose shoes are these? (not who is shoes, followed by a noun with no article)

Hope this helped everyone whose brains were muddled with these terms,

Tanya