"Whose" - am I using the word incorrectly?

You have used it correctly. If in doubt, replace it with "who is" and see if it still makes sense. If not, then "whose" is correct.

Mecari said:

So my sentence is:

"The path led them to a circular elevator, whose plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief."

Is my usage of 'whose' incorrect here, since I'm refering to the elevator and not a person? Should I just rearrange the sentence? Thank you in advance!

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According to m-w, you can use whose for objects:

of or relating to whom or which especially as possessor or possessors <whose gorgeous vesture heaps the ground — Robert Browning>, agent or agents <the law courts, whose decisions were important — F. L. Mott>, or object or objects of an action <the first poem whose publication he ever sanctioned

I think your sentence is a bit awkward as written, but I don't believe it's grammatically incorrect.

"Whose" is correct even though the subject is a thing, not a person.

Otherwise, you can use "of which":

The path led them to a circular elevator, of which the plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief.

maestrowork said:

The path led them to a circular elevator, of which the plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief.

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Would "The path led them to a circular elevator, the plain, silver interior of which made Reu sigh with relief." be better?

I'm not taking issue, I'm curious. Your rewording sounds very off to me.

maestrowork said:

"Whose" is correct even though the subject is a thing, not a person.

Otherwise, you can use "of which":

The path led them to a circular elevator, of which the plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief.

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I think you may have your syntax wrong. It sounds odd to my ears, at any rate. If you're going with 'of which' I'd change the sentence to read:

The path led them to a circular elevator, the plain silver interior of which made Reu sign with relief.

FWIW, I prefer 'whose' in this context, and I don't find the original phrasing awkward. YMMV.

Edit: Chris P beat me to it. Damn you, man with an awesome name.

Be wary of spell check with 'whose.' Every time I use 'whose' it gets underlined and spell check suggests 'who's' even when 'whose' is correct, as it is in your sentence.

Grammatically correct, but it reads a little awkwardly to me. I'd be tempted to rewrite it in the interest of reading flow and clarity.

Sorry, brain fart. I was thinking of "in which," not "of which."

Mecari said:

So my sentence is:

"The path led them to a circular elevator, whose plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief."

Is my usage of 'whose' incorrect here, since I'm refering to the elevator and not a person? Should I just rearrange the sentence? Thank you in advance!

Click to expand...

How about: The path led them to a circular elevator with a plain, silver interior that made Reu sigh with relief.

rhymegirl said:

How about: The path led them to a circular elevator with a plain, silver interior that made Reu sigh with relief.

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I'll second that. Much better than the alternative I gave.

rhymegirl said:

How about: The path led them to a circular elevator with a plain, silver interior that made Reu sigh with relief.

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not to nitpick but there's still ambiguity (but nothing major): is it the elevator that makes Reu sigh, or is it the plain, silver interior? Also, I am not pleased with the two withs. How about:

The path led them to a circular elevator: its plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief.

Mecari said:

So my sentence is:

"The path led them to a circular elevator, whose plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief."

Is my usage of 'whose' incorrect here, since I'm refering to the elevator and not a person? Should I just rearrange the sentence? Thank you in advance!

Click to expand...

I didn't know that about 'whose'. I normally go by ear. I would automatically assume you couldn't use it on an object that had no personification like in poetry or something that didn't in some way relate to people like in the earlier example of 'law courts'. With an elevator it sounds extremely awkward.

The path led to a circular elevator, and the plain, silver interior made Reu sigh with relief.