Can “whose” refer to inanimate objects?

Question

I was baffled while using this sentence:

I went into some blog site whose sole purpose. . . .

My question is about whose. Is it correct to use it there?

There are at least five duplicates found when putting the original question title in the "Ask Question" page. — Andrew Leach, Mar 12 '13 at 11:03

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

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If you check with a dictionary you would realize:

whose

of, belonging to, made by, or done by whom or which ⇒ whose book is lost? a song whose popularity endures

Note: When whose is used as a pronoun ^{(used without a following noun)} , it can only mean "that or those belonging to whom": Whose is this?^{(It is definitely asking whom this is belonging to)} However, when it is used as a possessive adjective, it has the definition "of whom or which".

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

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answered Mar 12 '13 at 09:01

Archy Will He 何魏奇

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The temptation is to assume that whose has to have exactly the same referents as who can have - ie persons. The man who built the shed. The man whose shed this is. // The dog that lives in this kennel. The dog whose kennel this is. // The house that this man owns. The house whose owner is just walking towards us. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 12 '13 at 09:23
I read somewhere whose relates to alive objects – kavinhuh Mar 12 '13 at 09:24
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I read somewhere the moon is made of green cheese. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 12 '13 at 09:28
@user1386579 Regarding of that I've updated my answer. – Archy Will He 何魏奇 Mar 12 '13 at 09:32

Can “whose” refer to inanimate objects?

1 Answers1