Monday, March 21, 2016

Misuse of "who's" for "whose"



This is another case of words that sound alike, yet have completely different meanings and are not interchangeable: who's and whose.

Who's is a  contraction meaning who is, while whose means belonging to who(m). But, just like it's being misused for its, it's very common to see who's misused for whose.

These are INCORRECT:

"Do you know who's house that is?"
"Who's phone is ringing?
"That is who's book I borrowed."

Think about what those sentences are actually saying by expanding out the contraction who's:

"Do you know who is house that is?"
"Who is phone is ringing?"
"That is who is book I borrowed."

Pretty nonsensical, right? Now the correct versions:

"Do you know whose house that is?"
"Whose phone is ringing?"
"That is whose book I borrowed."

Still not sure which word is correct? Please post a comment below, or contact us on Twitter.


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