WHOSE vs WHO’S: Useful Difference

between Who’s vs Whose

Whose vs Who’s! Who’s the one whose sentence had who’s instead of
whose? Sounds confusing, right? These two words can easily be mixed up for
quite a few reasons: their pronunciation, their form and their use (in a way).
But when is the right time to use each one? That’s what you’ll find out after
reading the next few paragraphs.

To clear up the mystery we first have to know what each word

means. Whose can be either an adjective or a pronoun “of or relating to whom
or which especially as possessor or possessors”. Basically, whose shows
possession. Who’s is a contraction of the word who and either the
word is or has. The confusion between whose vs who’s stems from the fact
that we usually use ‘s to show possession, which makes us think that who’s
would be the right choice when it isn’t. It’s just the same as with its versus it’s.

When to Use Whose

As I said before, whose is used to show possession, so naturally, you would
use it to talk about the man whose car is not working or to ask whose pencil
was that.
For questions, if your answer will be his, hers, or theirs, then you should have
whose as your first word.

 I know someone WHOSE cat is missing.

 WHOSE cat is missing?
 My neighbor’s. You know, the one WHOSE wife left him.

When to Use Who’s

Who’s is a contraction. In simple terms, who’s = who + is or who’s = who +
has. It is not used in any other context, even if it is tempting to use it when
talking about possession. You use it when you don’t want to say or type the
whole thing, when you are talking fast, or in an informal context.
Examples:
 I know a guy WHO’S in need of a ladder, can you help him out?
 WHO’S got time for all this writing?
 WHO’S gonna come to the concert with me tonight?
 Are you the one WHO’S been singing all day long?
Tips to Remember the Differences between Whose vs Who’s
The best way to remember the difference between who’s vs whose is to
remember their usage. Even easier, you only have to remember the usage of
who’s: who’s is a contraction between two words. With that in mind, any
time you want to use who’s and you are not sure if it’s the right word, just
replace it with who is or who has and see if it makes any sense.
Example: “Who’s keys are those?” becomes “Who is keys are those?” or “Who has
keys are those?”, which makes no sense, so the right word, in this case, would
be whose.
“Who’s up for some nachos?” becomes “Who is up for some nachos?” This is the
correct word, so it makes sense.
You could also remember a modified version of the first sentence of this
article: Who’s the one whose keys I found? Remember this sentence and keep in
mind that the words go from shortest to longest (whose vs who’s, not all the
words) and you’re good to go. Personally, I find the first method to be the
easiest one to remember.
Whose vs Who’s Examples:
 Whose keys are on the kitchen counter?
 I saw a man shouting at a driver whose car was blocking the street.
 She’s the student whose handwriting is the best in my class.
 Whose books are these?
 Whose is this bag?
 I despise anyone who’s cruel to animals.
 Who’s the woman in the black hat?
 Who’s the governor of this country?
 The man who’s just walked out is Tom.
 He is a writer who’s often been criticized by the press but never before
with such vitriol.