"Who", "whose" & "whom"

"Who," "Whom" and "Whose" in Adjective Clauses

The sentence below contains an example of an adjective clause:

• I know the man who won the contest.

Adjective clauses are used to describe a noun in the main sentence. In the example above, the adjective clause tells us about "the man." Just ignore the main sentence and look at the adjective clause when deciding whether to use "who," "whom" or "whose." Ask yourself if the adjective clause requires a subject, object, or possessive form.

Examples:

• We knew the actress who starred in the movie. subject of adjective clause
• They hired the man whom we interviewed last week. object of adjective clause
• She knew the family whose house we bought. "Whose" shows possession of house.

~~'Who' is a subject pronoun like 'he', 'she' and 'they'. We use 'who' to ask which person did an action or which person is in a certain state.

Who is the manager?

Who is going to prepare dinner?

~~'Whom' is an object pronoun like 'him', 'her' and 'us'. We use ‘whom’ to ask which person received an action.

Whom did they choose as team captain?

Whom did they summon?

~~'Whose' is a possessive pronoun like 'his', and 'our'. We use 'whose' to find out which person something belongs to.

Whose is this umbrella?

Whose car is blocking the drive?

~Karen