Monday, July 7, 2008

Whose line is it anyway?

That catchy comedy show's title is pulled together by one very important word that many people mix up: when to use who's vs. when to use whose. It's one of those things that you don't think about until you have to use it correctly.
The confusion here is due to the apostrophe, which on 99% of English words indicates possession, but here simply indicates a contraction. If you can replace the word with who is or who has, use who's. If not, use whose.

When researching this, I thought that it seemed to be the same rule that applies to it's vs. its. Many students write it's thinking that the apostrophe shows possession when in fact it indicates a contraction of it is. Similarly, Who's=who is.
A simple explanation of this idea can be found at a blog called check grammar .


EXAMPLES
Who's

Who's watching TV?
Do you know who's going to speak?
Who's ready to go?
Who's in the kitchen?
Who's this?
Who's already eaten?
Whose
Whose is the possessive of who or, somewhat controversially, which.
Whose book is this?
Do you know whose car this is?
I know a woman whose kids study there.
Whose side are you on?
An idea whose time has come.

For those desiring more practice, this page provides some examples:
practice


Although I often use it in this way, using whose as the possessive of which is somewhat controversial with some professors.

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