Whose is it?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello my friends,
I'm back :)
(I was on vacation for 2 weeks.)

I have plenty of new questions.
(Of course everything will be in an extra thread :up:)

When we don't know the word of an object, can we simply ask:
Whose is it?
Whose is this?


Let's say it's a "watering can", but you just don't know its name.
Does whose need an object?
Whose X is it?
Whose X is this?


I mean you could also say:
Whose thing is it?
Whose object is it?
(Of course it's not good English, but I don't know if you can let it out.)

Cheers!
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Hello my friends,
I'm back :)
(I was on vacation for 2 weeks.)

I have plenty of new questions.
(Of course everything will be in an extra thread :up:)

When we don't know the word of an object, can we simply ask:
Whose is it?
Whose is this?


Let's say it's a "watering can", but you just don't know its name.
Does whose need an object?
Whose X is it?
Whose X is this?


I mean you could also say:
Whose thing is it?
Whose object is it?
(Of course it's not good English, but I don't know if you can let it out.)

Cheers!
Hi Nightmare, welcome back.
If the the thing is in front of you, you can say simply "whose is this?". Of course if you are talking about something outside/out of view, a car perhaps, you would need to specify what it is you are talking about.
"Whose car is that out on the drive?"
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
:up: 'Whose' can be either a possessive adjective ('whose car') or a possessive pronoun ('Whose is this?) Similarly you could ask 'Which one/car... is yours?' Or 'Which is yours?' Neither is more or less grammatical than the other; they're both fine.

b
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
]I mean you could also say:
Whose thing is it?
Whose object is it?
(Of course it's not good English, but I don't know if you can let it out.)

Hi Nightmare!
Why do you say it's bad English? I don't get it...
 

hanky

Key Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Hello my friends,
I'm back :)
(I was on vacation for 2 weeks.)

I have plenty of new questions.
(Of course everything will be in an extra thread :up:)

When we don't know the word of an object, can we simply ask:
Whose is it?
Whose is this?


Let's say it's a "watering can", but you just don't know its name.
Does whose need an object?
Whose X is it?
Whose X is this?


I mean you could also say:
Whose thing is it?
Whose object is it?
(Of course it's not good English, but I don't know if you can let it out.)

Cheers!

Regarding to the sentence in red, I suppose you meant "When we don't know the OWNER of an object", am I right?
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Regarding to the sentence in red, I suppose you meant "When we don't know the OWNER of an object", am I right?

I thought the original poster did actually mean what they said "When you don't know the name of an object..."

If you don't know what something is called, you can't say, for example, "Whose car is this?" if you don't know the word "car"! So I think they were asking if you can simply say "Whose is it/this?" while perhaps pointing at the object you don't know the word for.
 

hanky

Key Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
I thought the original poster did actually mean what they said "When you don't know the name of an object..."

If you don't know what something is called, you can't say, for example, "Whose car is this?" if you don't know the word "car"! So I think they were asking if you can simply say "Whose is it/this?" while perhaps pointing at the object you don't know the word for.

Oh, I see. Thanks.
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Thank you for your replies :up:

Hi Nightmare!
Why do you say it's bad English? I don't get it...

Hi birdeen's call,
I made a small mistake.
Of course it's not bad English, it just sounds a bit stupid.
"Whose thing is this?"
(Maybe it's okay for a child to say such a sentence, but for us it could be "unpractical" ;-))

@hanky:
Yes, emsr2d2 is right.

Cheers!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top