Who, Whom, Whose: How to Use Them Correctly

It can be easy to mix up who, whom, and whose.

Once you understand subjects, objects, and possessives, it’s much easier to use them correctly.  

Let’s quickly cover what subjects, objects, and possessives do and then learn the differences between who, whom, and whose.

Subjects 

Subjects do the action in every sentence. The subject is also always a noun or noun phrase.  

Examples:

Objects

Objects receive the action in every sentence. Prepositional phrases also contain objects which they modify. 

Examples:

• I watch movies. 
• The students read books. 
• The computer is in the living room. 

Possessives

Possessives tell us the person or group that an object belongs to. 

Examples:

• His computer is fast.
• I read her novel.
• Our hotel has a nice view. 
• We went to their school. 

Using Who 

Who is a subject pronoun, meaning it is used as a subject in a sentence or phrase. Other subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, they, and we. 

In direct questions, who takes the place of the person doing the action. 

Examples: 

• Who took out the trash? (Who takes the place of the person who took out the trash. This is the person who did the action and so we should use who)
• Who is there? 
• Who are you?

Grammar note: For subject-verb agreement, who will always take singular verbs even if who is referring to more than one person. 

In adjective clauses, who will open the phrase. Remember that adjectives tell us what kind, which one, or how many. Adjective clauses are entire phrases that function as an adjective. Since who is a subject pronoun, adjective clauses that open with who will modify the subject. 

Examples: 

• I looked for the person who forgot their hat. 
• He thanked the person who helped him.
• He wants to learn from someone who is knowledgeable. 
• Daniel, who was late, had to participate more in class. 

Using Whom

Whom is an object pronoun and as a result, is the object in sentences and phrases. Other object pronouns are me, you, him, her, us, and them. This means whom takes the place of nouns that receive the action. 

In direct questions, whom is used to find out which person is receiving the action. 

Examples: 

• Whom are you going to ask to the party? (Whom takes the place of someone getting asked to the party. That person receives the action and is why we should use whom)
• Whom did they choose as the team captain? (Whom takes the place of the person who was chosen.)
• Whom did you run into?

Grammar Note: It should be noted that whom is decreasing in usage and many people also consider the sentences above to be correct even if they started with who.  

Because whom is used as an object, prepositional phrases should always use whom rather than who. 

Examples: 

• To whom it may concern, I am writing to declare my interest. 
• To whom do you wish to speak? 
• My professor, for whom I’m doing the assignment, is very strict. 

In adjective clauses, whom is used when the adjective clause modifies a noun receiving an action. 

Examples: 

• The students whom I helped with English thanked me. 
• The woman whom I guided through the station got on the train.  

Whom is also used with Adjective clauses with quantifiers like all and most 

Examples: 

• The students, most of whom are gifted, scored well on the test. 
• The customers, all of whom are nice, bought many items. 

Using Whose

Whose is a possessive pronoun like his, her, our, and their.  

In direct questions, we usewhose to find out which person something belongs to. 

Examples:

• Whose car is parked in the driveway?
• Whose ticket is this?
• Whosecoat were you wearing?

In adjective clauses, whose is used to show

Examples:

• The coach chose someone whose record is strong.
• I told the teacher whose fault it was.
• We spoke to the man whose name escaped me.

Whose vs Who’s

Whose and Who’s sound exactly alike, but have different meanings. As we said before, whose is a possessive pronoun used to find out the person an object belongs to. On the other hand, who’s is the shortened form of who is, which is used more casually. The best way to remember the difference between whose and who’sis to see if the sentence still makes sense when replacing it with who is.

Examples: 

Whose phone is this? (Whose is correct here because you are asking the person the phone belongs to) 

Who’s coming tonight? (Who’s is correct here because it is replacing who is and the sentence is asking about the people coming tonight and not about possession) 

Take the next few sentences to see if you can pick out whether it should be whose or who’s.  

• Who’s/Whose at the door? 
• Who’s/Whose going to the party? 
• Who’s/Whose shoes are these? 
• Who’s/Whose that?
• Who’s/Whose food is this? 

Answers:

• Who’s
• Who’s
• Whose
• Who’s
• Whose

Wrap Up

Even after reading this, it might not be easy to use who, whom, and whose correctly at first. It’s something that takes practice. Make sure to check back for future grammar lessons and explanations. For more specific help or to book online or in-person tutoring, contact us for a free consultation.