Who’s is a contraction linking the words who is or who has, and whose is the possessive form of the pronoun who. They may sound the same, but they’re not spelled the same, and remembering which spelling is which can be tricky. To get into the difference between who’s and whose, read on.
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Who’s vs. whose: What’s the difference?
Who’s clear on who’s and whose?
Who’s vs. whose: What’s the difference?
The contraction who’s means who is or who has. The relative pronoun whose is used the same as other possessive pronouns such as my or their when you don’t know the owner of something, as in “whose phone is this?”
Who’s going to tell me whose party we’re going to?
Both who’s and whose come from the pronoun who (shocking, right?).
Who’s is a contraction, meaning it’s two words stuck together with some of the letters left out, and those letters are replaced with an apostrophe. The formula: who + is or who + has = who’s.
Whose is the possessive form of the pronoun who. Use it when you’re asking (or declaring) to whom something belongs.
But when you need the word whom to explain what whose means, more information is called for. Plus, even though who’s is a contraction and whose is possessive, say one after the other and you sound like an owl starting to fall asleep. That’s because these two words are homophones, meaning they sound the same but mean different things and/or are spelled differently. Keep your apostrophes where they belong by continuing through this explanation of who’s vs. whose.
What is who?
First up, let’s introduce this exceptionally tricky pronoun. It has several forms, and many a brave soul has cowered in the attempt to use it correctly.
Who
Who is one of the interrogative pronouns, along with what and which. Of those three, who is the one used to refer to a personal subject. In other words, you can use it to ask a question about which person did something or is someone.
Whom
This is the bane of many an English speaker’s existence. But it’s not as hard as you think: Like the personal pronouns, who changes form based on case, and whom is its objective form, meaning that if you could turn your question into a statement and replace whom with him, her, me, or them, you’re good to go.
Yeah, we know—it sounds stuffy. But if you want to be correct correct, that’s how it works.
And now, on to the spelling culprits.
Who’s or whose
They sound the same: hoos. It rhymes with shoes.
So: Is it who’s shoes? Or whose shoes?
Who’s
To recap, who is the pronoun used to mean “what or which person or people.” Add -’s to stand in for who is or who has.
Who’s = who + is
Who’s = who + has
Who’s is a contraction. That means the apostrophe stands in for a letter that goes missing to make pronunciation easier and quicker. Imagine saying “I do not know who is going to go.” Out loud, it probably sounds more like “I don’t know who’s gonna go.” The jury’s still out on gonna, but we’d guess you’re already used to using an apostrophe to mark an omitted word or sound. Wouldn’t y’all agree?
Whose
Whose shoes? Translation: To whom do the shoes belong?
Whose is a pronoun used in questions to ask who or what owns something or has something. In other words, whose is about possession.
Don’t be tricked: On the one hand, because grammazons mark possessive nouns with -’s, it’s tempting to think that who’s (not whose) is the possessive form of who. But apostrophes are also used in contractions; that’s what the apostrophe indicates in who’s. And possessive pronouns, which also include his, hers, their, and its, don’t take apostrophes. Which is why the possessive form of the pronoun who is whose.
One more time, for the folks in the back:
Whose = belonging to whom
Who’s = contraction of who is or who has
Incidentally, “Who’s shoes?” would mean “Who is Shoes?” Some folks have strange nicknames. Like Blue. Whose clues? Blue’s clues.
Weirdly, you’d never say “Who’s shoes” to mean “Who has shoes?”—you’d probably say “Who’s got shoes?” if that was the meaning you were after.
Who’s got time for examples?
Well, we hope you do. But whose time is it? Your time. We hope you’ll spend it looking at these examples of how to use who’s and whose.
If you have that tune stuck in your head for the rest of the day, you can blame us.
Who’s against spicing up a grammar lesson with some nineties comedy?
Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre
This one’s worth an extra glance: Who in all its forms generally refers to animate beings, but in the possessive there’s no equivalent for inanimate objects like Bessie’s lantern. The alternative is “Bessie carried a lantern, the light of which glanced on wet steps.” Okay in some circumstances, but it would’ve really disrupted Charlotte’s flow here.
And finally, a who’ve for good measure:
Yes, that means who have.
Who’s clear on who’s and whose?
By now, anyone who has read this far, we hope. Just in case, let’s review:
- Both of these words are versions of the interrogative pronoun who.
- Who’s is a contraction of who + is or who + has.
- Whose means “belonging to whom” or, occasionally, “of which.”
Whose grammar got a boost from this read? Now you’re someone who’s ready to use these pronouns in style.
