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You are correct, in the case of "it's" the apostrophe doesn't indicate possession, but rather a contraction of 'it is'. I think it is a confusing edge case, whi
by mberning 16y ago
You are correct, in the case of "it's" the apostrophe doesn't indicate possession, but rather a contraction of 'it is'. I think it is a confusing edge case, which English has many of.
- NickPollard 16y agoYes, it's one of English's many confusing edge cases, as normally an apostrophe does indicate posession - you would say "David's book", or "Sarah's pc" - so this catches many people out (including me, quite often).
- bpyne 16y agoI wouldn't qualify it as an edge case. It was more of a change in philosophy about teaching kids to spell, which is something like "kids should spell it the way it sounds". The change started in the US at least 15 years ago. When I went through elementary school > 30 years ago, not using an apostrophe for a contraction caused a reduction in grade. Also, contractions were disallowed in formal writing. For instance, using a contraction in a paper was a reduction in grade. Changing times and philosophies.