8 ms·
Just a nitpick, the word it's does not imply possession, you are looking for 'its'. If you cannot substitute your usage of it's with 'it is' then it is the wron
by 0des 5y ago
Just a nitpick, the word it's does not imply possession, you are looking for 'its'. If you cannot substitute your usage of it's with 'it is' then it is the wrong one to use.
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoEnglish spelling is so fucked up. Possessives normally have the apostrophe, except the possessive pronouns. Just because.
- disillusioned 5y agowont-fix
- spartanatreyu 5y agowont-fix or won't-fix?
- cercatrova 5y agoMore like won\'t-fix
- Biganon 5y agoSee also "whose", because "who's" would have made too much sense I guess
- spijdar 5y agoWell, for a period of time in "middle english", it was spelled "whos". Ultimately derived from the genitive singular form of Old English hwa, "hwaes". In OE the -es suffix marked the genitive case in strong masculine nouns. Eventually, the form become generalized across all nouns, with -es being applied to any noun to indicate possession. In most cases, the e is silent, and typographers began to either omit it (e.g. "whos") or, eventually, replaced it with an apostrophe, as the French did. And I suppose "whose" gained an e to indicate the "long vowel". So we've ended up in a situation where we've basically lost noun declension and just attach suffixes to indicate plurality and possession (s and 's), but our pronouns have inherited their old declensions, without the -es/-'s suffix attached. Granted, "its" is itself a semi-recent invention, as OE and middle english used "his" for both masculine and neuter third person singular genitive pronouns.
- dehrmann 5y agoNot "just because." Pronouns are still effectively declined.
- mkl 5y agoExcept "one's", because every exception must have an exception (except the ones that don't). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one#Pronoun https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one#Pronoun
- Dylan16807 5y agoAvoiding overlap with contractions isn't "just because".
- skydhash 5y agoPossessives were the weird ones for me. I learned French at an early age, and you were just expected to learn the possessive pronouns. I did the same for English and while `it's` and `its` are similar, I've always considered the latter as its own thing, not something extrapolated from using the apostrophe as a possessive in English.
- metadat 5y agoThanks, I always get confused about this and believe it or not, I almost majored in English! Even trying to query Google for the correct rules for it's/its doesn't turn up clear, concise information as you've achieved here in two sentences. Tragically, it's another case of SEO'd to death.
- Nexxxeh 5y agoYou know what they say. "It's what it's."
- nobody9999 5y ago>Thanks, I always get confused about this and believe it or not, I almost majored in English! Just remember this[0] and you should be set: It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs. -- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News" [0] http://www.anvari.org/fortune/Miscellaneous_Collections/394416_its-is-not-it-isnt-aint-and-its-its-not-its-if-you-mean-it-is.html http://www.anvari.org/fortune/Miscellaneous_Collections/3944...
- Dylan16807 5y ago> Even trying to query Google for the correct rules for it's/its doesn't turn up clear, concise information as you've achieved here in two sentences. Tragically, it's another case of SEO'd to death. Use a dictionary or simply "define:"
- mcherm 5y agoHere is the simple rule I use: in English, pronouns never use an apostrophe for the possessive. He --> his She --> her They --> their We --> our I --> my You --> your It --> its (Since someone will probably point this out, this is only true of the common pronouns. There are unusual pronouns that have apostrophes in their plurals. Eg: one --> one's. But nevertheless, the rule worked for me.)
- formerly_proven 5y agoit's is always short for it is.
- rvbissell 5y agoAs a native speaker I am well aware of that, but my typing muscle-memory is to some degree phonetic and on autopilot. So I sometimes reread what I wrote and discover I used e.g. 'two' instead of 'too'. It's/its is another common one.
- Semaphor 5y ago> e.g. 'two' instead of 'too' Oh wow. So, is this a common thing? When I type without thinking about it too much, and with my typing not being able to keep up with my brain, I tend to make those errors a lot. But I thought it was just me being dumb and not some general thing that happens to people.
- detritus 5y ago*hand up here I also sometimes put in an entirely incorrect word that is vaguely like the one I intended, with amalgamated hints of a neighbouring word, usually the one after. My brain just melds them together. Sometimes I read what I write and wonder how on Earth I can be such an idiot. Blessed are those times I catch such fuckwittery before posting. - ed the its/it's one is really annoying though, because of course I KNOW which is correct, but sometimes my finger just slips and sneaks in that apostrophe.
- Semaphor 5y agoFunnily enough, I never have that issue with its/it's. Maybe because I’m not a native speaker and sometimes actually confuse them until my spellchecker reminds me ;) And yeah, I sometimes created melded words as well. I wonder if there’s a name for our issue.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ascar 5y agoRarely happens with its for me, but to/two/too, where/there and most annoyingly know/now are common ones.