Whose: adding descriptive information for possessive nouns

Whose

Adding descriptive information for possessive nouns

Relative Pronoun for Personal Possession — whose

WHO – SUBJECT OR OBJECT PRONOUN	WHOSE – SUBJECT OR OBJECT POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
Who replaces the subject noun of a modifying clause (relative clause) and who or whom to replace a object noun of a modifying clause (relative clause).	Whose replaces the possessive subject or object noun of a modifying clause (relative clause).
SUBJECT OF CLAUSE The woman who is Greek is on the phone. She is Greek.	SUBJECT OF CLAUSE The woman whose name is Greek is on the phone. Her name is Greek.
OBJECT OF CLAUSE The woman who(m) you met is on the phone. You met her.	OBJECT OF CLAUSE The woman whose husband you met is on the phone. You met her husband.

WHO – SUBJECT OR OBJECT PRONOUN

WHOSE – SUBJECT OR OBJECT POSSESSIVE PRONOUN

Who replaces the subject noun of a modifying clause (relative clause) and who or whom to replace a object noun of a modifying clause (relative clause).

Whose replaces the possessive subject or object noun of a modifying clause (relative clause).

SUBJECT OF CLAUSE

The woman who is Greek is on the phone.
She is Greek.

SUBJECT OF CLAUSE

The woman whose name is Greek is on the phone.
Her name is Greek.

OBJECT OF CLAUSE

The woman who(m) you met is on the phone.
You met her.

OBJECT OF CLAUSE

The woman whose husband you met is on the phone.
You met her husband.

Adding a possessive clause with whose as the subject

JOIN THE SENTENCES	INDEPENDENT CLAUSE	DEPENDENT CLAUSE
1. Replace the possessive noun her with whose.	The woman is on the phone.	Her name is Greek.
1. Replace the possessive noun her with whose.		whose name is Greek
2. Insert the clause directly after the noun it modifies.
	The woman	whose name is Greek is on the phone.
3. Add commas if the clause adds extra information that is not essential to identifying who the person is. (a non-identifying, non-restrictive clause) See Some or All	The woman,	whose name is Greek, is on the phone.

Adding a possessive clause with whose as the object

JOIN THE SENTENCES	INDEPENDENT CLAUSE	DEPENDENT CLAUSE
1. Replace the object pronoun her with whose	The woman is on the phone.	You met her husband.
1. Replace the object pronoun her with whose
2. Move the relative pronoun to the front of the sentence.		whose husband you met
3. Insert the clause directly after the noun it modifies	The woman	whose husband you met is on the phone.
4. Add commas if the clause adds extra information that is not essential to identifying who the person is. (a non-identifying, non-restrictive clause) See Some or All	The woman,	whose husband you met, is on the phone.

balloon runner

Common Mistakes

ERROR	FIX
*The woman whose husband we chatted with him lives next door.	The woman whose husband we chatted with [him] lives next door.
*The woman who her husband is from Uruguay is going to be the CEO of the company.	The woman whose husband is from Uruguay is going to be the CEO of the company. (Change who her to whose.)
*The runner who his balloons popped ran to the finish line naked!	The runner whose balloons popped ran to the finish line naked!

*Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage.
Pop-Q " Balloons"

Practice

Join the two sentences into one sentence.

First, write your response: change the second sentence into a clause. (Leave the prepositions at the end of the sentence.)
Then check your response against the answer.

#	YOUR RESPONSE	CHECK ANSWER
1.	I like a television program about a funny guy. His dog always stares at him. I like a TV program about a funny guy
2.	The man has a great outlook on life. His family encourages him. The man has a great outlook on life. encourage (v.) – to give someone the courage or confidence to do something outlook (n.) – general attitude to life and the world
3.	One TV episode was about a man. His brother tapes his mouth shut to stop his snoring. One TV episode was about a man
4.	The main character is very picky. His tastes are very eccentric. The main character is very picky. tastes (n.) – preferences; eccentric (adj.) – unusual, odd; picky (adj.) – choosy
5.	The man lives in Seattle. His father is an ex-police officer. The man lives in Seattle.
6.	The father is always complaining about his aches and pains. His physical therapist is very pretty. The father is always complaining about his aches and pains. physical therapist (n.) – a professional health care worker who helps an injured person exercise
7.	After a while we get to know the man's brother. We laugh about his phobias. After a while we get to know the man's brother . get to know – become familiar with someone or something phobias (n.) – psychological fears (fear of dirty things, heights, numbers, etc.)
8.	The characters are very amusing. We love their personalities. The characters are very amusing. character (n.) – a person in a book, play or film; a role personality (n.) – the particular way a person behaves; a person with strong qualities that make him or her different

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