Writing Academic English 4th Edition

SantaClausis thesymbolofChristmasgift-giving.l-!i&jollyfigure

appearseverywhereduringtheChristmasseason.

SantaClaus,whosejollyfigureappearseverywhereduring

theChristmasseason,is thesymbolofChristmasgift-giving.

Opportunitiesareincreasingforgraduates.Graduates'degreesare

incomputerengineering.

Opportunitiesareincreasingforgraduateswhosedegreesare

incomputerengineering.

Nonrestrictive

whose

Thestudentwhoisworkingaloneis a friendofmine.

Thestudentswhoareworkingtogetherarealsofriendsofmine.

Nowlearntheexception:Whenwhose+nounisthesubjectofanadjective

clause,theverbagreeswiththatnoun.

Shetakescareoftwochildrenwhosemotherworksatnight.

(Theverbworksissingulartoagreewithmother.)

Shetakescareoftwochildrenwhoseparentsworkatnight.

(Theverbworkispluraltoagreewithparents.)

Notes

1.Somewritersfeelthatwhoseshouldbeusedtoreferonlytopeople.For

animalsandthings,theyrecommendusingofwhich.Compare:

I returnedthebookwhosecoverwastorn.

I returnedthebook,thecoverofwhichwastorn.

Otherwritersusewhoseinallbutthemostformalwriting(suchaslegal

documents).

2. Youhavelearnedthattheverbinanadjectiveclauseagreeswiththe
   antecedent.

Restrictive

whose

Thefollowingexamplesshowyouhowtocombinetwosentencestomakea new

sentencecontaininga subjectpatternpossessiveadjectiveclause.

Inpossessiveadjectiveclauses,therelativepronounwhosereplacesa possessive

wordsuchasMary's, his, our, their, thecompany's,or its.Possessiveadjective

clausescanfollowthesubjectortheobjectpattern.

Inthesubjectpattern,thewhose+nounphraseisthesubjectoftheadjective

clause.Intheobjectpattern,thewhose+nounphraseis theobjectintheadjectIVe

clause.

PossessiveAdjectiveClauses..

238 PartUI ISentenceStructure