Texas Court Reporter Practice Exam

What’s the correct form in the sentence: "Everyone knows (whose, who's) going to win?"

1. Whose

2. Who's

3. Both are acceptable

4. Neither is correct

The correct answer is: Who's

In the provided sentence, the correct form is "who's," which is a contraction of "who is." The context of the sentence refers to people’s general knowledge about the identity of the future winner, so it indicates asking about a subject—specifically, who that person is. On the other hand, "whose" is a possessive pronoun used to indicate ownership, as in "Whose book is this?" In the context of the sentence, using "whose" would incorrectly imply a question about ownership rather than predicting the outcome of a competition. Therefore, the structure and meaning of the sentence clearly support the use of "who's" as the appropriate choice.