Who, Whom, and Whose are interrogative pronouns. These words are used to ask questions, often about people.
• Who is the most common. It asks about the subject of a sentence.
- For example: “Who spoke at the conference?”
You can check by replacing 'who' with “he” or “she”: “He spoke at the conference.”
• Whom is the object form of who. It is more formal and used mainly in writing.
- For example: “To whom does the bag belong?”
In casual English, people often use who instead: “Who does the bag belong to?” Both are correct, but whom sounds formal.
• Whose shows possession. It means “belonging to someone.”
- For example: “Whose chair did you move?”
It can also be a contraction of “who is” or “who has.”
- For example: “Who’s coming today?” (Who is coming) or “Who’s got your hat?” (Who has your hat).
In everyday English, who is the most frequent, while whom is mostly for formal situations.
Whose helps ask about ownership or can replace “who is” or “who has” in questions.
Knowing these forms helps you ask correct and clear questions.