Who, Whom, And Whose

Who, whom, or whose?

The use of the pronouns who, whom, and whose may cause some confusion for English language learners. “Who” is a subject pronoun. It is used to specify which person did an action or which person is in a certain state. “Whom” is an object pronoun that is used to indicate the person who received an action. “Whose” is a possessive pronoun that is used to refer to which person something belongs to.

These pronouns are used in questions and relative clauses.

Pronoun	Replaces	Functions
Who	People	as a subject
Whom	People	as an object
Whose	People or things	as a possessive

Note: Before explaining the use of these pronouns, it is important to understand what is meant by subject, object, and possessive.

Subject, object, and possessive

To be able to use “who”, “whom” and “whose” appropriately, you first have to distinguish between subjects, objects, and possessives.

Subjects

The subject is the person or thing that performs the action of a verb:

• Alice works in a bookshop. → “Alice” is the subject of the verb works
• Alan drives to work. → “Alan” is the subject of the verb drives.
• Nancy prefers tea to coffee. → “Nancy” is the subject of the verb prefers.

Objects

An object is a noun or a noun phrase that is affected by the action of a verb or that comes after a preposition.

– Transitive verbs – like blame, hire, and choose – require an object.

• He blames his wife for the loss of their son. → “His wife” is the object of the verb “blame“.
• They hired Liz for the job. → “Liz” is the object of the verb “hired“.
• They chose James as a leader. → “James” is the object of the verb “chose“.

– Other verbs – like give and offer – take two objects:

• John gave the poor guy money. → “Money” is the object of the verb “gave“.
• Leila offered her mom a flower. → “Her mom” and a flower are objects of the verb “offered“.
• They sent them emails. → “Them” and emails are objects of the verb “sent“.

– Prepositions also take objects. The object of a preposition is a noun or a noun phrase that comes after a preposition to form a prepositional phrase.

• I can hear the voice of the boss. → “The boss” is the object of the preposition “of“.

Possessives

A possessive shows who or what something belongs to. A possessive can be either an adjective or a genitive:

• They like her new car. → “Her” is a possessive adjective.
• The Lynch’s house caught fire. → “The Lynch’s” is a genitive case that shows possession.
• Paul lost his phone. → “His” is a possessive adjective.

Who, whom, or whose?

Now let’s answer the question:

What is the difference between who, whom, and whose?

Who, whose, and whom can be used in questions or relative clauses.

Let’s start with their use in questions.

Who, whom, and whose in questions

Who

In questions, “who“ is a subject pronoun. It indicates the person or thing that performs the action of a verb

In the following examples, Alice, Alan, and Nancy are replaced by the pronoun who:

• Alice works in a bookshop. → Who works in a bookshop?
• Alan drives to work. → Who drives to work?
• Nancy prefers tea to coffee. → Who prefers tea to coffee?

Whom

In questions, “whom“ functions as an object. It refers to a noun or a noun phrase that is affected by the action of a verb.

In the following examples, the objects his wife, Liz, and James are replaced by the object pronoun whom:

• He blamed his wife for the loss of their son. → Whom did he blame for the loss of their son?
• They hired Liz for the job. → Whom did they hire for the job?
• They chose James as a leader. → Whom did they choose as a leader?

Whose

In questions, “whose“ functions as a possessive pronoun. It refers to who or what something belongs to:

• They broke Jane’s car. → Whose car did they break?
• The Lynch’s house caught fire. → Whose house caught fire?
• Mary’s phone is lost. → Whose phone is lost?

Who, whom, and whose in relative clauses

In the following relative clauses, who, whose, and whom are used as subjects, objects, or possessives, respectively.

Who

Who is used to introduce a clause giving further information about the subject – a person or people previously mentioned.

• The woman who is standing there is a famous YouTuber.
  • → “Who” refers to the subject ” the woman”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “The woman is a famous YouTuber.”
• The writer who wrote this book is my neighbor.
  • → “Who” refers to the subject “the writer”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “The writer is my neighbor.”
• Jane, who is my best friend, has just won the lottery.
  • → “Who” refers to the subject “Jane”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “Jane has just won the lottery.”

Whom

Whom is used in relative clauses to replace an object of a verb:

• The boy whom I met is a singer.
  • → “Whom” refers to the object “the boy”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “I met the boy.”
• The girl whom he adores died yesterday.
  • → “Whom” refers to the object “the girl”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “He adores the girl”.
• The writer whom he described as talented has published a new novel.
  • → “Whom” refers to the object “the writer”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “He described the writer as talented.”

Whose

“Whose“ replaces a possessive in relative clauses. It indicates who or what something belongs to:

• The table whose leg is broken is in the kitchen.
  • → “Whose” refers to the possessive “the table’s leg”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “The table’s leg is broken.”
• The house whose door is open is for sale.
  • → “Whose” refers to the possessive “the house’s door”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “The house’s door is open.”
• The boy whose father is a karate champion is a genius.
  • → “Whose” refers to the possessive “the boy’s father”.
  • Note: The dependent clause is:
    • “The boy’s father is a karate champion.”

Who and whom in informal English

While “who” is used as a subject pronoun and “whom” is used as an object pronoun in conventional grammar, in informal English, who is used in both instances, that is as subject and object pronouns. “Who” is thus used in informal English instead of “whom” in contexts where the latter is typically used in formal English.

Example:

• Whom did you ask? (Formal)
• Who did you ask? (Informal)

Summary

The pronouns who, whom, and whose are used in questions and relative clauses.

• “Who” is a subject pronoun that is used to describe who performed an action or who is in a specific state.
• “Whom” is an object pronoun that refers to the person who was the recipient of an action.
• “Whose” is a possessive pronoun that refers to the person to whom something belongs.

More on this topic here.

Related materials:

• What’s the difference between who, whom, and whose?
• Who or whom?
• Exercise on who vs whom
• Direct and indirect objects
• Wh-questions
• Exercise on question words 1
• Exercise on question words 2