Confusing word choices

Rules are made to be broken. I break them regularly when I’m writing – especially when I need to make an impact.

Sometimes a little creative license is acceptable. Other times it can detract from your credibility – even be cringeworthy. There’s nothing worse than re-reading an email you’ve already sent or a report that’s been published to find a glaring mistake. Not a simple typo, but a ‘confusable’ – demonstrating just how confused you really are.

So without further ado, let’s consider the not-so-subtle differences of this common confusable.

Who’s

A contraction – or shortened form – of who is or who has.

• Who’s coming to today’s seminar, and who’s already been?

Whose

Possessive of who – belonging to him or her.

In most cases, apostrophes indicate ownership – possession. Whose is a rare exception to this rule. Its is another.

• Who’s hosting the meeting, and whose office is it in?

Tip: To check you’ve used the correct word, spell any abbreviated words out in full. You’ll know immediately if you’ve got it wrong – as you can see in the example:

• Who’s hosting the meeting, and who’s office is it in?
• Who is hosting the meeting, and who is office is it in?

Download the entire list of ‘confusable’ solutions.
Keep it handy and be confident whenever you face a
word conundrum.

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