[OT] Nit: please don't user "it's" unless you can substitute "it is" without changing your inteded m

[Bengt Richter]

Typos happen to all of us, but in case you hadn't realized what "it's"
is a contraction for ("it is"), now you do, and you can save yourself further
embarrassment (assuming you care ;-).
If your friends won't tell you, who will ;-)

Write the contraction "it's" only when you want its meaning
to be "it is," otherwise it's wrong ;-)

OTOH, how does one punctuate the posessive of a word per se?
E.g., the first letter of "it" is "i", but can one write that
as "it"'s first letter is "i," or it's first letter is "i" ? ;-)
And how many "it"s (?) are there in the previous sentence?

I wonder if "Eats Leaves and Shoots" (a book on punctuation) has something on that.
(vs, "Eats, Leaves, and Shoots" -- panda vs gunslinger).

Regards,
Bengt Richter

 

[Fuzzyman]

Typos happen to all of us, but in case you hadn't realized what "it's"
is a contraction for ("it is"), now you do, and you can save yourself further
embarrassment (assuming you care ;-).
If your friends won't tell you, who will ;-)

Making grammatical errors in the subject of a post on gramamtical
errors must be embarrasing. ;-)

Write the contraction "it's" only when you want its meaning
to be "it is," otherwise it's wrong ;-)

OTOH, how does one punctuate the posessive of a word per se?
E.g., the first letter of "it" is "i", but can one write that
as "it"'s first letter is "i," or it's first letter is "i" ? ;-)
And how many "it"s (?) are there in the previous sentence?

Don't recall an answer to this one in "Eats, Shoots and Leaves".

The first one is clearer :

"it"'s first letter is "i"

All the best,


Fuzzyman
http://www.voidspace.org.uk

 

[Fredrik Lundh]

Making grammatical errors in the subject of a post on gramamtical
errors must be embarrasing. ;-)

http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html#moenslaw-corrections

</F>

 

[Steve Holden]

Making grammatical errors in the subject of a post on gramamtical
errors must be embarrasing. ;-)

Almost as *embarrassing* as making two spelling errors in one sentence
complaining about grammatical errors (though I'll charitably accept the
second one as a typo, and gladly hold my hands up to being a dreadful
committer of the typographical error myself). What grammatical errors
were you trying to point out, by the way?

Don't recall an answer to this one in "Eats, Shoots and Leaves".

The first one is clearer :

"it"'s first letter is "i"

Best of all is to eschew the unknown and adopt a phrasing that gives an
unambiguously correct answer: 'The first letter of "it" is "i"'.

regards
Steve

 

[BartlebyScrivener]

"The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have
no apostrophe."

Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. Section II.1

The Elements is a classic masterpiece of concision and lucidity, unlike
Eats, Shoots, Sells Books, and Leaves.

rpd

 

[Fuzzyman]

"The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have
no apostrophe."

Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. Section II.1

The Elements is a classic masterpiece of concision and lucidity, unlike
Eats, Shoots, Sells Books, and Leaves.

Which is however eminently more readable, except perhaps for the
overlong introduction...

All the best,


Fuzzyman
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/index.shtml

 

[Peter Hansen]

Typos happen to all of us, but in case you hadn't realized what "it's"
is a contraction for ("it is"), now you do, and you can save yourself further
embarrassment (assuming you care ;-).
If your friends won't tell you, who will ;-)

Maybe we can also hold forth on "which" vs. "that", proper use of "I"
versus "me" (usually the opposite of what many do), "each" vs. "all",
and when to use "whom". Also throw in the old stand-bys "they're" and
"their" and other homonyms, but consider that often the mistake is not
cause by a poor grasp of grammar but simply by writing too quickly, as
one sometimes "hears" the words incorrectly in one's mind as one types,
and then not proofreading adequately. (That's my excuse: I always catch
"their" swapped with "they're" when proofreading, but I do sometimes use
the wrong one when I write quickly.)

Of course, even the best of us make such mistakes, and holding everyone
to task for it is probably not going to help. This is a problem which
only constant and instrusive reminders would cure, and the cure would be
far worse than the disease.

OTOH, how does one punctuate the posessive of a word per se?
E.g., the first letter of "it" is "i", but can one write that
as "it"'s first letter is "i," or it's first letter is "i" ? ;-)

When a construction is awkward, pick a different one. '''The first
letter of the word "it" is "i"''' should be just fine.

I wonder if "Eats Leaves and Shoots" (a book on punctuation) has something on that.
(vs, "Eats, Leaves, and Shoots" -- panda vs gunslinger).

Eats Shoots and Leaves: less cowardly than leaving _then_ shooting...
also the actual name of the book. ;-)

-Peter

 

[Spellman]

Which is however eminently more readable, except perhaps for the
overlong introduction...

My favorite grammar book, Patricia T. O'Conner's "Woe Is I," is
readable as well as concise and lucid. Here's how she explains it (or
rather "it's" vs. "its"): If the word you want can be replaced by "it
is," you want "it's." If not, use "its." (By the way, her chapter
titles are a hoot; the one on punctuation is called "Comma Sutra.")

 

[Spellman]

Which is however eminently more readable, except perhaps for the
overlong introduction...

My favorite grammar book, Patricia T. O'Conner's "Woe Is I," is
readable as well as concise and lucid. Here's how she explains it (or
rather "it's" vs. "its"): If the word you want can be replaced by "it
is," you want "it's." If not, use "its." (By the way, her chapter
titles are a hoot; the one on punctuation is called "Comma Sutra.")

 

[Grant Edwards]

Making grammatical errors in the subject of a post on gramamtical
errors must be embarrasing. ;-)

Not really. It's one of the basic laws of Usenet. All
complaints about grammar/spelling will contain grammar/spelling
mistakes. Nothing you can do about it.

 

[Bengt Richter]

Making grammatical errors in the subject of a post on gramamtical
errors must be embarrasing. ;-)

Yeah. I could probably get away with claiming that I inteded one error to soften the
blow of my demonstration of superiority, but actually neither was intentional.
Perhaps it worked out for the best ;-)

Regards,
Bengt Richter

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

Typos happen to all of us, but in case you hadn't realized what "it's"
is a contraction for ("it is"), now you do, and you can save yourself further
embarrassment (assuming you care ;-).
If your friends won't tell you, who will ;-)

For all three of the people on the Internet who haven't
seen this:

http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

And in colour:
http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html

 

[Grant Edwards]

For all three of the people on the Internet who haven't
seen this:

http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

And in colour:
http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html

But wait, if you follow the rules on the poster, you'd use an
apostrophe for the possive of "it", right?

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

But wait, if you follow the rules on the poster, you'd use an
apostrophe for the possive of "it", right?

But not if you actually followed the link I intended to
send but forgot to:

http://www.angryflower.com/its.gif

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

But not if you actually followed the link I intended to send but forgot to:

http://www.angryflower.com/its.gif

Dammit, wrong link. Serves me right for not letting the
whole thing load before posting.

http://www.angryflower.com/itsits.gif

 

[Tim Roberts]

For all three of the people on the Internet who haven't
seen this:

http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

And in colour:
http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html

My own name gives me trouble with this. There is disagreement in the
curmudgeon world as to whether I should refer to "the Roberts' computer",
or "the Roberts's computer".

I guess I'll just have to keep saying "that damn computer."

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

My own name gives me trouble with this. There is disagreement in the
curmudgeon world as to whether I should refer to "the Roberts' computer",
or "the Roberts's computer".

I guess I'll just have to keep saying "that damn computer."

In English, you would say "Roberts' computer".

In ugly foreign languages like American, some people say "Roberts's
computer", but they are wrong.

*wink*