Confusing Words: WHO vs WHOM vs WHOSE

Who, whom and whose are common and important English words, yet they are often
mixed up or misunderstood in speech and writing. Even experienced academics may
have difficulty deciding how to use these words, especially when it comes to the
difference between who and whom. However, once you get the knack of it, deciding
how to use who, whose and whom can be quite easy. First of all, let’s look at the
definition of each word.

DEFINITIONS

Who is a subject pronoun, meaning it is used in a sentence or clause as a subject. As you

remember, the subject of a sentence is the one doing the action.

In the sentences below, Harvey and they are the subjects.

Harvey played baseball with Jay.
They met at the gym on Sunday.

Who has the meaning of what or which person(s) when it’s in its interrogative
(questioning) form. You will often find who is used as a question like this:

 Who is coming for dinner tonight?

 Who are these people over there?
 Who was playing yesterday?

But the interrogative form of who is not always used as a direct question:

 We must find out who they are.

 I will decide what to do when we know who is playing in the team.

Notice that in the above examples, the sentences would still make sense if who was
replaced with what person or which person/which persons.

Who can also be used as a relative clause, often used to refer back to someone in a
sentence, or to refer to a group of people or animals.

 My mother, who was a tall woman, was a brilliant soccer player.

 The older generation is one who knows almost nothing technology related.

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  The dogs who wag their tails are usually friendly.

Whom is an object pronoun, defined as the objective case of who. As we have seen
above, who acts as the subject of the sentence, whereas whom acts as the object of the
sentence.

In the sentence used above about Harvey and Jay playing baseball, Jay is the object.
Harvey played baseball with Jay.

Notice that whom never acts as the subject of the sentence in these examples:

 Sara met two men in the airport, one of whom she has known since childhood
in the village.
 The coach picked Alexander, whom he believed to be the best goaler on the
team.
 Whom should I speak with about setting up the dance?

You can see from the examples above that the sentences would make sense if a) you
replaced whom with an object pronoun: him, me, us, her or them, or b) if you answered
the question and the answer is an object pronoun.

 Sara met two men in the airport, one of them she has known since her
childhood in the village.
 The coach picked Alexander, as he believed him (Alexander) to be the best
goaler on the team.
 You should speak with me/her/him/them/us.

Whose is a possessive pronoun, which has three different functions:

 As the possessive case of who (used as an adjective).

o The coach chose someone whose record is strong.
o I would never tell the teacher whose fault it was.
 As the possessive case of which (used as an adjective).
o We spoke to the man whose name escaped me.
o A snake whose skin sheds annually.
 The one or ones belonging to a person or persons.
o Whose car is parked in the driveway?

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 o Whose book is this?
o Whose coat were you wearing?

WHOSE vs WHO’S

Whose and who’s are homophones, meaning they sound almost identical when spoken.
For that reason, the two words can be often confused in writing. As we have seen above,
whose is a possessive pronoun that is used to indicate possession. Who’s is the
contracted form of who is, used in informal speech or for brevity. The best way to
remember the difference between whose and who’s is to see if the sentence still makes
sense when replacing it with who is.

 Whose bag is this? Whose is correct, as who is bag is this wouldn’t make
sense.
 Who’s going to the party tonight? Who’s is correct, as whose going to the
party tonight doesn’t make sense.
 Whose party is it? Whose is correct, as who is party is it wouldn’t make
sense.
 A man, whose name escapes me, called our house. Whose is correct, as who
is name escapes me wouldn’t make sense.

USAGE

When to use WHO

In a sentence or clause, who will be used as the subject or to refer back to the subject in
a sentence. In its simplest terms, this means who will be the part of the sentence or
clause directly interacting with the main verb and performing the action.

 Who is going to the movies later?

 Who doesn’t agree with me?
 John – who got a new dog last week – needed to buy a stronger leash.
 He got a new dog, one who barked all night and slept all day.
 Simon and Danielle, who felt claustrophobic, refused to take the elevator.

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Remember that subjects do an action in a sentence, so who can usually be replaced by
subject pronouns like he, she, it and they and still make sense.

 She is going to the movies later?

 He doesn’t agree with me?
 John – he got a new dog last week – needed to buy a stronger leash.

When to use WHOM

In a sentence or clause, whom is used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition. Put
simply, whom does not directly interact with the main verb or perform the action.

 With whom should I go to the movies later?

 The lady to whom I spoke was French, not German.
 The boys were exhausted, most of whom hadn’t slept in days.
 For whom is the gift intended?
 James Madison, about whom we speak little nowadays, was a superb leader.

Remember that objects receive the action in a sentence, so when whom is used in a
question, the answer can be expressed with object pronouns and like him, her and
them.

 With whom should I go to the movies later? With him!

 For whom is the gift intended? For them!

When to use WHOSE

In a sentence or clause, whose is used to as a possessive pronoun. We use whose in a

sentence to either indicate or to question who something belongs to.

 Whose paintings are these?

 John, whose dog barked all night, is loathed by his neighbours.
 Let him whose conscience is clear step forward.
 Whose house shall we visit next?
 I have no doubt whose mess it is.

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WHO is a Subject Pronoun

A personal subject pronoun is simply a pronoun that is the subject of the verb. It is the
thing or person that performs the action of the verb. A subject pronoun decides how the
verb is conjugated.

 He went to the store.

 I am happy today.
 She was not very tired.
 They have come from the airport.

If we replace the personal subject pronouns he, she and they in the above examples
with who, you will notice that the sentences become questions.

 Who went to the store? He did.

 Who is happy today? I am!
 Who wasn’t very tired? She wasn’t.
 Who has come today? They have. *

*Who will take the singular form when posing a question, even though we may be
speaking of more than one person.

Of course, who can still be used as a subject pronoun in a clause without needing to be
a question.

 Mike, who went to the store earlier, will be back shortly.

 Daphne, who is very tired, won’t be at work today.
 The Harries, who are not coming today, hate this city.

WHOM is an Object Pronoun

An object pronoun is not used as the subject of the verb, but the object. It is receiving
the action in the sentence, but not doing the action itself.

 With whom did you travel to France?

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In the sentence above, the subject pronoun you is performing the action (travelling to
France), whereas the object whom is not performing the action (in a grammatical
sense). We know that whom is replacing an object personal pronoun, because of how
we would answer the question.

 With whom did you travel to France? I travelled with him/her/them.

Other examples:

 About whom is this written? It’s written about him.

 To whom does this belong? It belongs to her.
 And to whom should I address this invitation? You should address it to them.

Notice that when we answer the questions, the object pronouns do not become the
main subject of the verb. This tells us that the usage of whom was correct in the
sentence.

WHOSE is a Possessive Pronoun

Possessive pronouns, such as her, his and our, are used to indicate ownership by a
person or thing. We use whose as a possessive pronoun if we wish to find out who owns
something or as a clause when indicating ownership is important to the context of the
sentence.

 Whose cat might be in the house?

 Tell me, whose bag was left behind?
 Can anyone guess whose famous essay was titled “The Lion and the Unicorn”?
 Frankie, whose full name was Francesca, lied about her age.
 Casey, whose clothes never matched, didn’t care how he looked.

ACTIVITIES

I. Pick the correct pronoun in each sentence.

1. Whom / Whose / Who wrote this book?

2. Whom / Whose / Who dictionary is on the table?

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3. It doesn't look like this is the right address. Whom / Whose / Who did you ask for
directions?
4. We have two extra tickets for the concert. Whom / Whose / Who wants to go with
us?
5. It wasn't me! I have no idea whom / whose / who left the oven on.
6. Whom / Whose / Who car is parked in the handicapped parking space? If
someone doesn't move it, it's going to be towed.
7. The police have called in an expert to identify whom / whose / who handwriting is
actually on the ransom letter.
8. Do you remember whom / whose / who received the Academy Award for best
actress that year? Was it Nicole Kidman?

II. Complete the blanks with either whom, whose or who’s.

1. The young lady _________ sitting over there is very fashionable.

2. That's the student _________ notes I used to study for the exam.
3. The people _________ we met at the hotel were very helpful.
4. I apologized to the man _________ car I accidently hit in the parking lot.
5. The child _________ the doctor examined on Friday has completely recovered.
6. I called a plumber _________ going to fix our broken pipe.
7. I share an apartment with two ESL students, both of _________ are from Japan.
8. That's the government worker _________ I obtained the information from.
9. The police arrested a suspect _________ fingerprints were on the murder weapon.
10. Has the manager decided _________ going to open the store on Saturday
morning?

III. Take a look at the prompts and complete the sentences.

1. This person reminds me of someone whom ____________________________

______________
2. Their dog, whose name is Nana, ____________________________________
3. This professional who _______________________________________
4. Monica is the girl who _______________________________________
5. Ross is the archeologist whom _____________________________________
6. Phoebe is the girl whose _________________________________________

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7. The boy to whom she talked to _____________________________________
8. The cast whom they work with _____________________________________