Determiner/Pronoun

Determiner/Pronoun
Message from passenger75 posted on 09-07-2015 at 02:42:05 (D | E | F)
Hello,
wish you have a good time.
Looking up the schema in my dictionary, I saw that whose can be a pronoun as well as a determiner; when is it a determiner and when a pronoun?
Whose book is it? Is it a determiner here?
I like the author whose stories are mysterious. Is it a pronoun here?
Would you please expound upon your answers?
Thank you for your help in advance.

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Edited by lucile83 on 09-07-2015 05:14

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Re: Determiner/Pronoun from carlabice47, posted on 12-07-2015 at 12:14:36 (D | E)
Hi, passenger 75.
Thanks for writing.
First , let's distinguish between interrogative pronouns and adverbs ( often called wh- pronouns / wh-adverbs)
Whose interrogative, is one of these:
Whose car is this ? Whose is this car ? ( no difference in meaning, you want to know who the car belongs to).

Whose, relative pronoun, can be defining or non-defining.
The former refers to " the one that " . "That's the lady whose car was cannibalized " . I'm referring to the lady who had a car which was cannibalized. If you omit " whose car was cannibalized" the sentence makes no sense . In this case WHOSE is a DEFINING relative pronoun. You cannot use a comma between the two sentences , nor can you omit the one starting with " whose....." .
If, instead, I say . " The lady, whose son won the prize, is a very old friend of my mother's", I'm using a NON-DEFINING relative pronoun.
The relative clasue, also called parenthetic, can be omitted as it only adds additional information to the fact that the lady is a very old friend of my mother's Please note that it is contained by two commas .
I hope this will help you clarify your doubts.

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Re: Determiner/Pronoun from violet91, posted on 12-07-2015 at 23:24:18 (D | E)
Hello passenger and carlabice ,
I am sorry but I don't quite agree with what is said above ...
Whose is A WH -word ( a Wh-question word ) is either a determiner or a pronoun .
Whose car is that ? / Whose is that car ? : both interrogative sentences . Called wh -questions .
As a declarative : - that is the lady whose car was vandalized . ( = of the one that ) : the lady is defined by a relative clause .
As for a defining relative clause , there are no commas , I am afraid .
The lady whose son won the prize is a friend of my mother's = the relative clause is determinative .( the lady here with her son ...) , and nobody else .
Finally , just take these examples and you'll see the fact you used commas can change the whole meaning of the sentence .
a) The pupils who have forgotten to do their homework will get a detention : determinative relative clause = those who = some of them , a few ( we hope ) = the pupils whose homework hasn't been done ...The rest of the class is ok !
b ) The pupils, who haven't done their homework ,will get a detention ! - this relative clause is appositive = because ...: and the whole form is concerned ! The pupils , whose homework hasn't been done , will get a detention . What a shame , then , everybody will , no doubt ! ( because of the commas ) .
You could imagine the following statement : 'the pupils ( addressing the whole lot or pointing at each of them in this form ) will get a detention . ' You have the result without knowing the reason and it is grammatical . The angry teacher or deputy head must be taking them to the detention room .
Good luck .

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Re: Determiner/Pronoun from carlabice47, posted on 13-07-2015 at 10:43:25 (D | E)
Hi, Violet 91, I find your comment very interesting.
Let's examine the two sentences:
1 The boy whose bike was stolen went to the police : DEFINING RELATIVE PRONOUN
2 Francis, whose bike was stolen, went to the police. NON DEFINING R. P.

I may have made a mistake in the second example using " the lady", instead of, let's say, Camilla.
I do agree on the fact that a comma is never used in a defining relative clause-
As regards the wh-pronouns you are right, I over exemplified the concept as they are all wh- pronouns and adverbs even if, usually, the interrogative pronouns are referred to as wh- ones .
Thanks for the contribution,
Bye

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Edited by lucile83 on 13-07-2015 11:33

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