Liz here. I love reader/writer requests. Last week's comments section yielded a request to highlight the difference between whose and who's. Because, you know, there is one.
Whose is a possessive pronoun. If you have two sloppy roommates, you might wonder whose dirty socks are on the dining room table, or whose gross dishes are on the couch, or whose smelly feet stunk up the bathroom. You get the point.
Who's is a contraction of who is. You might wonder who's going to throw those dirty socks in the laundry, or who's responsible for cleaning those dishes, or who's going to clean their gross feet.
Overall, this is a prime example of a simple mistake that happens a lot in the blogosphere. Whether it's who's or whose, your or you're, its or it's, it is imperative that you double and triple check your prose. Editing may not be the most fun part of writing (unless you're a weirdo like me who knows the Oxford comma by name), but it can be critical in being taken seriously as a writer.
If it is your goal to be published, then you need to take the same care in your editing as you do in your writing. A lot of us editors are sticklers for rules, and if you aren't treating your grammar and usage with the same gravitas that you do with your character development, it won't matter to us how heroic Jimmy was when he pulled his sisters out of they're beds as the house burned down around them. (See?)
PRACTICE
Write about a pair/trio/septet of roommates having a disagreement. Use whose and who's correctly to detail where the argument's roots lie.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you're finished, post your practice in the comments section.
And if you post, make sure to comment on some other posts.
Have a good day!
Write about a pair/trio/septet of roommates having a disagreement. Use whose and who’s correctly to detail where the argument’s roots lie.
“Joe, whose mess is this in the kitchen?” Mark dropped dirty pots into the sink and turned to see Joe standing behind him.
“What are you doing?” Joe asked. “Who’s going to wash those pots so I can cook dinner?”
“Not me,” Mark said. “Whose turn is it to wash the dishes? That’s who’s going to wash them.”
“I think it’s Jack’s turn to clean the kitchen, that’s who,” Joe said. “But who’s going to wake him up?”
“Not me, I’m the one who’s had to fight him for waking him,” Mark replied. “There’s no telling who’s up there in bed with him. Besides, he probably doesn’t remember whose turn it is anyway.”
“Then I guess the mess will remain.” Joe turned to walk out of the kitchen but stopped when he saw Jack standing there. “Morning Jack,” he said. “Do you know whose turn it is to clean the kitchen?”
“No I don’t,” he replied. “But maybe we can check that book to find out.”
“What book?” Mark and Joe asked in unison.
“Whose book is it?” Mark asked. “Beside, who’s ever heard of that book?” Mark asked. “Not me.”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Whose turn is it to go to the library?” He looked around the kitchen. “Who’s going to the library?”
A long silence fell over the kitchen as the three young men sat at the table drinking coffee. Finally, Jack spoke up. “So, have we decided whose turn it is to clean the kitchen?”
“Who knows?” Joe replied. “We don’t even know whose turn it is to go to the library to get that book, “The Who’s Who of Cleaning.”
“Whoever figures it out can come upstairs and wake me up. And don’t get upset when you see who spent the night with me.”
“Who?” asked Joe.
“Tell us, whose wife is she?” Mark asked.
“Whose business it is anyway?” Jack looked around and smiled. “Who’s going to come upstairs and see who’s in my bed?”
Joe looked at Mark and asked. “Who cares who she is?” Then to Jack, “Who’s going to tell, anyway?” Mark turned to Joe and said. “We still don’t know whose job it is to clean the kitchen.”
“Who cares,” Joe said.
This made me giggle. Very playful and clever.
Brilliant use of who’s and whose, Angelo.
It’s like “Who’s on first”. Seriously your dialogue has a very realistic sound.
I thought the same on both counts, Marianne.
Confession: I know the Oxford comma by name and get enjoyment out of grammar…
Grammar nerd.
😉
I am not ashamed. 😉
A friend of mine declined to answer a response to a personal ad she ran because the guy had written, “Joanie, your a winner.” He got what he deserved.
I’m glad I don’t have to write to people in the personals because I would have missed out on a lot of dates. I constantly mess up your and you’re. It’s so sad.
Who’s going to be ready for the crit in painting today, wondered Nancy. It won’t be me, I’ll bet. I’ll be the one who gets torn to shreds by Dr. Catalano like usual. She walked through the apartment that belonged to her and two other art students. The assignment had been to paint your room or “A painting of one’s room” as Dr. Catalano, Mr. Macho Mucho Creepo, as the called him had put it.
In Lucy’s room she found a surrealistic painting in pale colors of a room at sunrise, but it wasn’t anything like Lucy’s real room, it was sort of like a church or like a museum, no use in trying to figure out which, thought Nancy, she never “got” Lucy’s paitings.
In Mary Ellen’s room she found an abstract painting of a blue rectangle, that moved from black-blue to a fragile, pale-blue, with the pale blue fading (at the top of the rectangle) to the white of the canvas, and on the white part of the canvas were various forms that looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics but seemed to be, on closer inspection, cups of coffee and doughnuts.
In Nancy’s own room stood a painting, rather conventional in an impressionistic fashion, of her bed, rumpled, but half-made, with a cat on the pillow in colors that Nancy had wanted to make luminous, but had fallen far short of what she’d imagined. Whose would he pick on,
****
fifteen minutes up and I don’t think I followed the directions very well. I got carried away. I just got up, read some of the stories from the morning darkness practice, and wrote. It looks like sleep creeped into this more than who’s and whose.
This one was right on time. I found my self fumbling with whose a couple of days ago. Thansk for clearing that up…now if only I can remember.
PRACTICE
Write
about a pair/trio/septet of roommates having a disagreement. Use whose and
who’s correctly to detail where the argument’s roots lie.
Write for
fifteen minutes. When you’re finished, post your practice in the comments
section.
‘Whose turn is it to clear up the kitchen?’ Valda stood in
the lounge room doorway and called out to her room mates.
‘Not me,’ Jake yelled. ‘I did it yesterday.’
‘Nobody did it yesterday,’ Sally said. ‘No one was home. We
left for the party the night before, and then spent all day at the beach.
Remember?’
‘Someone must have been home. How come there’s a mess in
there?’
‘Whose responsibility is it this time?’
They all turned on Tim. ‘Yours!’ they shouted in unison.
‘Why?’ Tim looked hurt, and shocked.
‘Because you drew up the schedule, remember?’ Valda looked
around the lounge room. ‘By the looks of tis place, someone ‘s forgotten whose
turn it is in here.’
‘Not mine,’ came three voices.
‘I know it’s not my turn,’ Valda said, ‘ seeing s how I’ve
already cleaned both kitchen and lounge room twice this week. It’s up tot he
three of yo to work out who’s turn for the rest of the week.’
‘It’s my turn for the laundry.’ Sally gave both boys pointed
glances. ‘so it’s up to you two to work out who’s doing the kitchen and this
room. Hop to it, boys. And remember to grab your dirty clothes of your bedroom
floor and bring them out to the laundry – now – or they won’t get washed. I’m not hunting in there, not after that
trodden meat pie fiasco.’
‘And whose fault was that, I wonder?’ Jake stared down at
Tim.
‘Only that bulldozer who ran me down while I was eating it,
that’s who.’
‘God, you’re worse than brothers.’ Valda banged on the door
panel. ‘Arguing about whose fault resulted in squished meat pie is not
resolving the problem of who’s turn cleaning up these rooms, you two.’
‘We need a new schedule drawn up. I’ll get busy on it right
now.’ Jake jumped up and headed to his room to fetch the folder and his textas.
‘Not now!’ Valda, Sally and Tim yelled.
Valda pointed at Jake. ‘Not until these rooms are cleaned!’