4 ms·
Here's how I keep this straight mentally. The rule is, in English, you can make a noun possessive by adding "'s" to the end. Let me emphasize one part: that's
by adrianmonk 8y ago
Here's how I keep this straight mentally.
The rule is, in English, you can make a noun possessive by adding "'s" to the end.
Let me emphasize one part: that's the rule to make A NOUN possessive. "It" is a pronoun, not a noun! The rule doesn't apply any more than it applies to a verb or an adjective.
Hence you don't have stuff like "you's", "he's", "she's", "we's", or "I's", and you also don't have "it's".
- EpicEng 8y agoPretty sure we do actually have he's and she's. "He's being an idiot", or "she's wrong about that."
- jstanley 8y agoYou're just proving the point: "'s" is only possessive for a noun. Your examples aren't possessives.
- EpicEng 8y agoYes, I misunderstood his point entirely. On reading my response again I also realize that my examples come off as a not so subtle insult, and which is not what I meant.
- buzzy_hacker 8y agoYes, but as a contraction of "he is", not as a possessive.
- cjm42 8y agoThose are contractions, not possessives. "He is" and "she is", just like "it's" is always a contraction, never a possessive.
- guyzero 8y agoThose are not possessives. They're contractions, like it's.