Key:
Hover over the grey underlined or bold words for pop-up notes.
*Asterisk = examples of errors or poor constructions*.
Student Learning: Grammar
Common vocabulary mistakes
Who's or whose
Because they sound the same in spoken English, whose and who's are words that often get confused in written English.
- 6.1 Whose:
Whose is the possessive adjective, meaning it always has a sense of something belonging to something/someone.
Whose is that car in the driveway?
The officer whose duty it was to control the crowd had over-reacted.
I don't care whose idea it was, I just want that elephant off the property now!
- 6.2 Who's:
Who's is a contraction of 'who is / who has' and that is all it can ever mean.
"Who's that walking on my bridge?" asked the troll.
I would like the student who's been in the country the longest to come forward.