It would be nice if there was a homonym checker. Every time you wrote a word with a common homonym - say, 'red' and 'read' - it would mark the term and give you options with definitions and even an example sentence.
But my focus today is on IT'S and ITS. The blog post I read had the word spelled consistently incorrectly, so it wasn't (was not) simply a typo.
Ways to remember:
1. The apostrophe (') takes the place of a missing letter. OK, the first exception is when it's signifying a possessive, which happens here, BUT in IT'S it does signify a missing letter.
IT'S = IT IS The missing letter is the I in IS
(or IT HAS in which case the ' has to replace two letters)
(or IT HAS in which case the ' has to replace two letters)
2. The three singular pronouns - he, she, and it - when possessive, all end in S WITHOUT an apostrophe:
HIS
HERS
ITS
There are further complications, but you know you wouldn't write hi's, so you also shouldn't write it's for the possessive its.
EXAMPLES: The dog put the bone in its doghouse.
It's (It has) been chilly lately.
If you think you've got it, here's (here is) a self correcting test of it's and its.
I have written the very same kind of Reply to a grammar abuser (among many) on Immoral Minority re its and it's -- I thought I would be pilloried, but got half a dozen Replies applauding me and riding their own grammar mistake hobby horses. (The lack of commas & your and you're...)
ReplyDeleteI have occasionally emailed Gryph to edit his headlines or his lack of hyphens which cause me to re-read a sentence three times to find its (!) meaning. He seems to take this in the spirit it was meant.
If a blog is pointing out the stupidity of gun-toting, illiterate, ignorant mouth breathing racists, the blogger & his followers should at least appear more literate.
It’s a thankless job, but some of us have to do it.
I think this one is pretty tricky, because noun's become possessive with an apostrophe s. I've gotten much less anal about grammar. Sure, there are some situation where bad grammar/punctuation can change the meaning of the sentence. But most often it's like having a spot on your shirt for those who know their grammar. People would rather not look stupid if they can help it.
DeleteYes, texting & Tweeting have changing grammar, esp. hyphenating words and commas which take up time & character space.
ReplyDeleteAs the person who put up a 2-foot-high printed message on the side of a Las Vegas parking lot wall -- O WELL.