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Who, Whom and Whose: Decoded

‘Who’, ‘Whom’ and ‘Whose’ sound similar but they have different functions.
Let’s learn their proper usage.
For that, we need to look at the difference between subjects, objects and possessive forms first.

The subject does the action:
He closed the window.
She painted the walls.
We went for a movie.

The object receives the action.
• Our son likes him.
• Neeta called her.
• Our neighbour waved at us.

The possessive form tells us about the person something belongs to.
• This is his notebook.
• She left her bag here.
• That car is ours.

‘Who’ as a subject pronoun

‘Who’ tells us which person did the action. It is a subject pronoun like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘we’.
• Who took my sunglasses?
• Who finished the custard?

‘Whom’ as an object pronoun

‘Whom’ tells us which person received the action. It is an object pronoun like ‘him’, ‘her’ and ‘us’.
• Whom are you calling so late?
• Whom is he going to hire?

‘Whose’ as a possessive pronoun

‘Whose’ tells us about the person something belongs to. It is a possessive pronoun like ‘his’, ‘her’ and ‘our’.
• Whose dog is chasing the squirrel?
• Whose calculator is this?

Tip: Most people get confused between ‘who’ and ‘whom’. There is a simple way to check which one to use, just answer the question with a pronoun.
If the answer is:
• he or she, use ‘who’
• him or her, use ‘whom’

 

To attempt more such questions, visit: http://www.genlish.com/quiz/