The Who’s and Whose of Grammar

The word ‘who’s’ is formed by forging two words who and has or who and is, while whose is a possessive form of who. Phonetically they sound the same, but the real trick lies in identifying them and spelling them correctly. Let us discuss the difference between both words some more.

Who – the pronoun – is the source of both the words whose and who’s.

Who’s is an abbreviation. It is two words joined together. The equation: who + has or who + is. 

For example: 

Who’s sleeping?

Whose is a possessive pronoun. It is used while asking to whom something belongs.

For example:

Whose watch is this?

However, when we need whom to explain what, whose means more information is required. 

Now, both the words whos’ and whose sound the same, but they have different meanings. Hence, they are called homophones. Use proper punctuation wherever required while using both words in a sentence.

Who

‘Who’ is a tricky pronoun that has various forms. Many brave men have quailed in their quest to utilise it rightly. Who is a subjective pronoun like I, she, he and they? But ‘is’ is commonly used in an interrogative sentence, like which person is someone or something. 

For example: 

Who is the manager? Who ordered you to enter the room? 

Whom

Many English-speaking millennials use this word. But, it is not as hard as we make it out to be. Whom is an objective pronoun like her, him, them or me? 

The best way to apply whom is by replacing her, him, them or me in a sentence. 

For example: 

Whom did you refer to? Whom did you meet?

Start applying it in a sentence. You will gradually understand it is easy to use and indeed fun. 

Who’s

As discussed above, who’s is an abbreviation formed by joining together two words to enable easy and quick pronunciation. Basically, the apostrophe in who’s is the word we miss out on.

Imagine this sentence ‘May in the know who is coming with me. If you say this sentence aloud and quick, it will probably sound like  ‘May I know who’s coming with me.’

For example I know who the doctor is- I know who’s the doctor.

Who’s is mainly used while writing spoken words. It is used in an assertive sentence. 

Whose

Whose is mainly used to ask a question or write an interrogative sentence.

For example: whose shirt is this? Whose permission did you seek?

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