Difference Between Whose and Who

Whose vs Who

We know that who is a pronoun and belongs to the family of pronouns such as he, she, it, they, we etc. Whose is a word that is a possessive form of who and tells us the belongingness of something in a sentence. Both who and whose are pronouns but confuse students as they find it difficult to make correct usage of the words in English language. This article attempts to highlight their differences through usage and meaning to enable readers to use these pronouns in a correct manner.

Whose

Just like his, her, and ours, whose is a possessive pronoun. This pronoun tells us about the person to whom a thing belongs. If we are interested in knowing the entity who owns or possesses a thing, we have to make use of whose in the sentence. Take a look at the following examples.

• Whose watch is this?

• Whose mobile is ringing?

• Whose bag has been left behind?

Who

Who is a pronoun that tells us the person that performs an action and the person upon whom this action has some effect. Take a look at the following examples.

• Who has won the race?

• Who is the girl in the red dress?

• Who is the President of the country?

• Who has made this recipe?

• I don’t know who the captain of the team is

What is the difference between Whose and Who?

• Both who and whose are pronouns but whose reflects belongingness whereas who tells us about the person that performs an action in a sentence.

• When it is not correct to make use of who is, it is better to make use of whose.

• Whose is the possessive form of who and is used to indicate the belongingness of an object with a subject.