Use of whose

[Shad]

hello everyone,
I am confused about whose.Could it be used for non living thing?
Are these uses correct?
1. The pen whose cover is blue...
2 The govt. whose responsibility is building adequate infrastruture..
help me.

[Mariner]

I am confused about whose.Could it be used for non living thing?

Yep. Perfectly grammatical. Maybe in older times it was considered wrong, but not anymore. In fact,

They came to a building whose walls where made of rocks

They came to a building the walls of which were made of rocks <formal> and awkward.

So in fact, whose is considered more natural for most cases

[MikeNewYork]

hello everyone,
I am confused about whose.Could it be used for non living thing?
Are these uses correct?
1. The pen whose cover is blue...
2 The govt. whose responsibility is building adequate infrastruture..
help me.

From American Heritage Dictionary:


USAGE NOTE It has sometimes been claimed that whose is properly used only as the possessive form of who and thus should be restricted to animate antecedents, as in a man whose power has greatly eroded. But there is extensive literary precedent for the use of whose with inanimate antecedents, as in The play, whose style is rigidly formal, is typical of the period. In an earlier survey this example was acceptable to a large majority of the Usage Panel. Those who avoid this usage employ of which: The play, the style of which is rigidly formal, is typical of the period. But as this example demonstrates, substituting of which may produce a stilted sentence. See Usage Notes at else, which, who.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.