Review 3 (lessons 13–17)

In B1 #17 whose joined two sentences: the man whose car was stolen. The same word also starts a question about the owner — which person something belongs to. In English it has one form for everything: one thing or many, a man's or a woman's.

The form. Usually whose stands together with a noun, and the pair works like one question word:

If the thing is already clear from the situation, the noun can be left out: Whose is this? — about one thing, Whose are these? — about several. The order Whose is this bag? is also possible, but Whose bag is this? sounds more usual.

When it is used. Most often when people are sorting out things: after a party some keys are left on the table, somebody else's phone is ringing in the office, a strange coat is hanging in the hall. The second frequent case is turns and responsibility: Whose turn is it to cook? — who must cook this time, Whose fault is it? — who is to blame. Note: English often asks about blame with whose fault, "the fault of which person", and not with who and an adjective. In the same way Whose side are you on? — which person do you support?

whose in a question and whose in a clause — one word doing two jobs. In a question it stands at the start and asks: Whose car is outside? In a clause it stands after a noun and asks nothing, it describes: the neighbour whose car is outside. The word order tells you which job it is doing: in a question whose opens the sentence, and in a clause the person you are talking about stands before it.

With other verbs the rule is the same as for what + a noun. If whose + the noun is the subject, you don't need do: Whose phone is ringing? If it is the object of the action, the question is made with do, does, did: Whose car did you borrow? Whose house are you staying at?

How to answer. With a possessive pronoun or a name with 's:

mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs stand without a noun; with a noun — my, your, her: It's my bag = It's mine.

In a report a question with whose gets statement word order, like any question in B1 #15: "Whose coat is this?" → She asked whose coat it was.

Don't confuse it with who's. That is the short form of who is or who has, and it sounds exactly the same — /huːz/:

The test is the same as with its and it's in A2 #33: open up the apostrophe. If you get who is or who has, write who's. If not — whose.

Don't say this. ✗ Who's bag is this? → ✓ Whose bag is this? By ear there is no mistake, in writing it is obvious at once. ✗ Whose this bag? → ✓ Whose bag is this? Some languages ask this question without a verb; English needs is.

Check yourself. How do you ask who the owner of a car is, pointing at it? What is written in ___ going to drive? — whose or who's? How do you answer that the keys belong to Anna?