View source for Who's - whose

'''Whose''' and '''who's''' sound exactly the same.  But they are spelled differently, and have rather different meanings: academic teachers hate it if you use the wrong one.  Both are derived from the [[wh- word]] '''who'''.
* '''Whose''' is the [[possessive]] form.  It means 'of whom', and comes in sentences like "<u>Whose</u> is this?" (~ 'to whom does this belong?', or less formally, 'who does this belong to?' (see [[who - whom]]), and "This is the friend <u>whose</u> bike I borrowed."
* '''Who's''' is the contracted form of 'who is'.  (Contracted forms, like isn't, I'm, she's and can't should be avoided in [[academic writing]].)

[[category:spelling common errors]] 
[[category:pronouns]]