Art that moves in the air: whose in relative clauses for people and things

Q: How do you use whose in a relative clause?

Put whose + a noun right after the person or thing it describes, then the rest of the clause: Calder was an artist whose sculptures move. Whose stands for his , her , its or their , so whose sculptures means his sculptures . A new subject can follow: Calder is an artist whose work Rhonda loves. The B1 lesson Art that moves in the air on edio.ai teaches it with Calder's mobiles.

Q: Can you use whose for things?

Yes: whose works for things as well as people . A mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance on wire. We visited a museum whose atrium has a huge mobile. Here whose replaces its , so a mobile which its parts balance is wrong. The scheme in Art that moves in the air on edio.ai has one row for people and one for things.

Q: Is it whose or who's?

They sound the same but mean different things : who's is short for who is or who has , and whose shows that something belongs to someone. Before a noun, write whose : the artist whose sculptures move , not who's sculptures . If who is or who has fits the sentence, write who's ; if not, it's whose .

Q: What's the difference between who and whose?

Whose comes before a noun; who often before a verb . Duchamp was the artist who named the mobiles , but Calder is the artist whose tiny circus traveled in a trunk . So the artist whose painted it is a mistake: there's no noun, so it should be who . In Art that moves in the air , a B1 lesson on edio.ai, a table has learners write both kinds of clause.

Q: How does a Calder mobile work?

Painted metal shapes hang on wires and balance , so the air can move them. Calder attached each shape to wire and balanced it by trial and error, and he usually hung his mobiles from the ceiling. His shapes often looked like leaves, petals, fish fins and bird wings. In Art that moves in the air , a museum educator shows Jade the idea with paper planets and straws.

Q: What words help you describe a mobile in English?

Start with the verbs for making one : you bend wire, often with pliers , attach a shape to it with string , and balance the parts. A mobile hangs from the ceiling and turns in a breeze , and a very big one can hang in a museum's atrium . Art that moves in the air on edio.ai teaches these words with pictures and audio, along with motor and aluminum .

Q: How do I teach whose to B1 students?

Start with two sentences and a possessive : This is a mobile. Its parts balance. Show how whose replaces its and joins them. Then contrast who + verb with whose + noun, and practice the spelling of who's . Art that moves in the air on edio.ai goes from a museum story page and a straw-mobile workshop to the scheme, a gap-fill and a who-which-whose table.

Q: What's a good game for practicing whose?

Play “Guess the classmate” : one student describes another with whose , as in I'm thinking of someone whose bag is green , and the class guesses who it is. In Art that moves in the air on edio.ai, open boxes give prompts like Describe an artist whose work you love and Think of a toy whose parts moved when you were a kid .

Q: What's good homework for practicing whose?

Good homework joins two sentences into one , so learners see whose take the place of his or its : I have a friend. Her brother makes mobiles. → I have a friend whose brother makes mobiles. The ten homework tasks in Art that moves in the air on edio.ai all check themselves and end with a museum label to complete.

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches whose in relative clauses, as in an artist whose sculptures move, through Alexander Calder and the first mobiles.

Grammar: Whose + noun for people and things (a mobile whose parts balance), whose in place of his, her, its or their, who or which when a verb comes next, and whose vs who's.
Topic: How Alexander Calder's moving sculptures got the name “mobiles” and how a mobile balances, with words such as balance, attach, pliers and atrium.
Activities: A museum's story page to read, a museum educator and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat from an art museum and open boxes about art.

What's inside

Chapter 1Warm-up: look up!
- PictureUnlock
- Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
- Study the words: art that movesVocabularyTry it
- Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock
Chapter 2Let's read: a toy duck, a motor and a lot of air
- Look at the photo: a mobile in a museumPictureUnlock
- Read the museum's story pageArticleUnlock
- Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 3Let's listen: a solar system made of straws
- Listen to Jade and DuaneListeningTry it
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
- Listen to the Listener's Take: Rhonda's messageListeningUnlock
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
Chapter 4Grammar: the artist whose sculptures move
- Study the scheme: whoseGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: who, which or whose?Choose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: use whose + the nounFill in the gapsTry it
- Fill in the table: who, which or whose?Fill in the tableUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
Chapter 5Let's talk: an artist whose work I love
- Choose the right replies: at the art museumChatTry it
- Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
- Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
- Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
- Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: relative clausesFill in the gapsUnlock
- Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: one sentence, the same meaningQuizUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: Jade answers RhondaDrag and dropUnlock
- Choose the correct option: a museum labelChoose the optionUnlock

Art vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

mobile
shape
ceiling
pliers
motor
breeze
atrium
aluminum
string

Grammar: relative clauses with whose

Whose joins a person or a thing to something it has: Calder was an artist whose sculptures move. With Calder's mobiles and a museum workshop, learners let whose + noun replace a possessive, keep who and which for when a verb comes next, and spell whose apart from who's.

The artist whose sculptures move

Use whose + a noun to say that something belongs to a person or a thing: an artist whose sculptures move, a mobile whose parts balance.

Who, which, where and whose

Who and that are for people, which and that for things, where for places. Whose + noun shows what someone or something has, and it works for both: an artist whose father was a sculptor, a sculpture whose parts balance.

Word	Use it for	Example
who / that	people	Duane is the educator who teaches kids about art.
which / that	things	Calder made a duck which rocks when you tap it.
where	places	This is the room where we build mobiles.
whose + noun	people: their family, work, things	Calder was an artist whose father was a sculptor.
whose + noun	things: their parts	A mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance.

Whose takes the place of his, her, its, their

Two sentences become one when whose replaces the possessive: Calder was an artist. His sculptures move. → Calder was an artist whose sculptures move. Don't keep the old word as well: not whose his sculptures, and not which its parts.

whose = his, her, its, their

Two sentences	One sentence with whose
Calder was an artist. His sculptures move.	Calder was an artist whose sculptures move.
Rhonda has a sister. Her room has a mobile.	Rhonda has a sister whose room has a mobile.
This is a mobile. Its parts balance on one wire.	This is a mobile whose parts balance on one wire.
These are the kids. Their mobiles won a prize.	These are the kids whose mobiles won a prize.
Calder is an artist. Rhonda loves his work.	Calder is an artist whose work Rhonda loves.

No his, her, its, their after whose

Whose already means his, her, its or their, so don't add them, and don't use who or which with them: the artist whose sculptures move (not: whose his sculptures, not: who his sculptures); a mobile whose parts balance (not: which its parts).

The pattern: noun + whose + noun + verb

The noun after whose is the thing that belongs: a museum whose atrium has a huge mobile. A new subject can follow that noun: Calder is an artist whose work Rhonda loves. Is there an artist whose work you love?

The pattern

person or thingwhose + nounverb …

an artist whose sculptures move

a museum whose atrium has a huge mobile

the artist whose work I love (whose + noun + a new subject + verb)

In the museum and in the studio

Calder was an artist whose sculptures move.
A mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance on wire.
Duane is an educator whose classroom has a small mobile.
Rhonda loves an artist who was born in Pennsylvania.
Jade made a mobile which looks like the solar system.
Is there an artist whose work you love?

Whose or who's? Whose or who?

Who's means who is or who has, so before a noun, write whose: the artist whose sculptures move. With no noun after it, whose doesn't fit: if a verb comes next, use who, which or that, as in the artist who painted it.

whose or who's?

They sound the same, but who's = who is / who has. Before a noun, write whose: the artist whose sculptures move (not: who's sculptures).

No noun? No whose

Whose always comes before a noun (the thing someone or something has). If a verb comes next, use who, which or that: the artist who painted it (not: the artist whose painted it). Whose works for people and for things.

Common mistakes

Calder was an artist who's sculptures move.
Calder was an artist whose sculptures move.
who's = who is / who has
She's an artist who her paintings are famous.
She's an artist whose paintings are famous.
whose takes the place of her
This is a mobile which its parts balance.
This is a mobile whose parts balance.
which + its → whose
He's the artist whose painted it.
He's the artist who painted it.
a verb next, no noun: who / which / that

More lessons on this grammar: Relative clauses lessons and exercises

Try the whose exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

What's in the lesson

17 auto-checked exercises
5 games
1 article
1 grammar scheme
1 set of word cards
2 audio clips
2 pictures
2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

join two sentences with whose: Calder was an artist. His father was a sculptor. → Calder was an artist whose father was a sculptor.
use whose for things as well as people: A mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance on wire.
choose who or which when a verb follows: the artist who painted it, not the artist whose painted it
spell whose and who's correctly and describe art you love: Is there an artist whose work you love?

Lesson 21 opens Art and design, unit 6 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It builds on A2.2 lessons 25 and 26, which taught relative clauses with which, that, who and where, and adds whose for what people and things have. Lesson 22 adds non-defining clauses with commas. Mobiles fit the grammar neatly: a mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance, made by an artist whose sculptures move.

Students spin a wheel of questions about museums, school art and mobiles over a baby's bed, then learn twelve words, from balance and bend to breeze and aluminum, with pictures and audio. They read a museum's story page about Calder, from a brass toy duck to a mobile in Washington, D.C., then hear Jade build a solar-system mobile from straws with Duane, a museum educator, and Rhonda from Pennsylvania describe the mobile she made for her sister; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and four self-checking drills, among them a table that sets who and which against whose. In the speaking chapter, students answer a friend's texts from an art museum and open boxes about artists and designs they like.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the art words and a memory game, then whose, who or which in new sentences, relative clause gaps, word order, a quiz that joins two sentences into one, Jade's answer to Rhonda with words to drag in, and a museum label for a teenager's mobile.

Grammar:: relative clauses · whose · who / which / that · whose vs who's
Topic:: Alexander Calder · mobiles · art museums · sculpture · Washington, D.C. · art and design · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

Warm up with things in the room: hold up a bag, a phone or a jacket and ask Whose is this? Then turn the answers into clauses: She's the student whose bag is red.
Hang a quick mobile before the reading: a coat hanger, string and paper shapes are enough. Ask what makes it balance, then read how Calder balanced his shapes by trial and error.
Play the museum dialogue twice: first for the steps of Jade's straw mobile, then for each whose clause. Students write down the noun after each one: shapes, parts, head.
Run a who's-or-whose dictation: read out six short sentences, half with who's and half with whose, and students write the right spelling. They sound the same, so the next word is the clue.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

Unit 1 Start-up stories
the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides
Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow
the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous
Unit 3 Food for the future
comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out
Unit 4 Memory and learning
reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands
Unit 5 Customs and manners
degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do
Unit 6 Art and design
relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why
1. Lesson 21 · you're hereArt that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where
Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers
verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather
Unit 8 Adventure and challenge
possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

How do you use whose in a relative clause?

Put whose + a noun right after the person or thing it describes, then the rest of the clause: Calder was an artist whose sculptures move. Whose stands for his, her, its or their, so whose sculptures means his sculptures. A new subject can follow: Calder is an artist whose work Rhonda loves. The B1 lesson Art that moves in the air on edio.ai teaches it with Calder's mobiles.

Can you use whose for things?

Yes: whose works for things as well as people. A mobile is a sculpture whose parts balance on wire. We visited a museum whose atrium has a huge mobile. Here whose replaces its, so a mobile which its parts balance is wrong. The scheme in Art that moves in the air on edio.ai has one row for people and one for things.

Is it whose or who's?

They sound the same but mean different things: who's is short for who is or who has, and whose shows that something belongs to someone. Before a noun, write whose: the artist whose sculptures move, not who's sculptures. If who is or who has fits the sentence, write who's; if not, it's whose.

What's the difference between who and whose?

Whose comes before a noun; who often before a verb. Duchamp was the artist who named the mobiles, but Calder is the artist whose tiny circus traveled in a trunk. So the artist whose painted it is a mistake: there's no noun, so it should be who. In Art that moves in the air, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, a table has learners write both kinds of clause.

Who was Alexander Calder?

Alexander Calder was an American artist whose sculptures move. He was born in 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania; his father was a sculptor and his mother a painter. In the fall of 1931, the artist Marcel Duchamp gave his new moving works a name: mobiles. The first ones ran on motors and hand cranks, but Calder soon made mobiles that move in the air.

How does a Calder mobile work?

Painted metal shapes hang on wires and balance, so the air can move them. Calder attached each shape to wire and balanced it by trial and error, and he usually hung his mobiles from the ceiling. His shapes often looked like leaves, petals, fish fins and bird wings. In Art that moves in the air, a museum educator shows Jade the idea with paper planets and straws.

What words help you describe a mobile in English?

Start with the verbs for making one: you bend wire, often with pliers, attach a shape to it with string, and balance the parts. A mobile hangs from the ceiling and turns in a breeze, and a very big one can hang in a museum's atrium. Art that moves in the air on edio.ai teaches these words with pictures and audio, along with motor and aluminum.

How do I teach whose to B1 students?

Start with two sentences and a possessive: This is a mobile. Its parts balance. Show how whose replaces its and joins them. Then contrast who + verb with whose + noun, and practice the spelling of who's. Art that moves in the air on edio.ai goes from a museum story page and a straw-mobile workshop to the scheme, a gap-fill and a who-which-whose table.

What's a good game for practicing whose?

Play “Guess the classmate”: one student describes another with whose, as in I'm thinking of someone whose bag is green, and the class guesses who it is. In Art that moves in the air on edio.ai, open boxes give prompts like Describe an artist whose work you love and Think of a toy whose parts moved when you were a kid.

What's good homework for practicing whose?

Good homework joins two sentences into one, so learners see whose take the place of his or its: I have a friend. Her brother makes mobiles. → I have a friend whose brother makes mobiles. The ten homework tasks in Art that moves in the air on edio.ai all check themselves and end with a museum label to complete.

How do you practice whose one-to-one?

Describe people and things the student knows: the teacher says Tell me about a friend whose job is creative or a building whose design you like, and the student answers with a whose clause. The chat in Art that moves in the air on edio.ai needs no partner: a friend texts during a museum visit, and each wrong reply has a whose, who or which mistake.

Are there interactive exercises for whose?

Yes. With no account, this page plays three parts of Art that moves in the air, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Jade and Duane's dialogue at the museum, a gap-fill of whose + noun and the chat from an art museum. Everything else needs an account.

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About this lesson

What's inside

Art vocabulary

Grammar: relative clauses with whose

Who, which, where and whose

Whose takes the place of his, her, its, their

whose = his, her, its, their

The pattern: noun + whose + noun + verb

The pattern

In the museum and in the studio

Whose or who's? Whose or who?

Common mistakes

Try the whose exercises

What's in the lesson

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

Teaching tips

Teach the whole lesson in edio

Start a free trial

Open the lesson

Teach it live or as homework

The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

Unit 1 Start-up stories

Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

Unit 3 Food for the future

Unit 4 Memory and learning

Unit 5 Customs and manners

Unit 6 Art and design

Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

Questions about this lesson

Teach this lesson with your students