Jane Austen also used whose to refer to inanimate objects: The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows. Consider the following quotes from Shakespeare (selected from many more quotes where whose refers to an inanimate object) and more recent authors:īy wailful sonnets, whose composed rhymes Many people seem to believe that you cannot use whose for inanimate objects, but I don't believe this was ever proscribed except by out-of-control grammarians. For others (see my update), it is only used for people or animals. For some of these (see my original answer below), it has been grammatical to use it for inanimate objects, at least since the days of Shakespeare. The word 'whose' is used in several different grammatical ways.