People get confused because of the rule for possession in English: Add 's to NOUNS (unless it's a plural ending in -s, in which case just add '). The problem is, "it" is not a noun, it's a pronoun, and pronouns in English are inflected for case:
The inflection is somewhat arbitrary, but the rule isn't: "Its" is the possessive inflection of "it" and "It's" is the contraction of "it is" or "it has."
The only way "it's" could be a possessive is if you're referring to an object which is properly referred to as "it" (for intance, if there were a band called It, then you could refer to It's new album).
What I meant was not that there was no rule, but that the rule difference between pronouns and general nouns is fairly arbitrary. It gains nothing in clarity, but much in pain.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 05:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 05:39 pm (UTC)Possessive third-person pronouns: "his," "hers," "its." None have apostrophes.
Third-person contractions with "is": "he's," "she's," "it's." All have apostrophes.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 07:18 pm (UTC)People get confused because of the rule for possession in English: Add 's to NOUNS (unless it's a plural ending in -s, in which case just add '). The problem is, "it" is not a noun, it's a pronoun, and pronouns in English are inflected for case:
I/me/my/mine
You/you/your/yours
He/him/his/his
She/her/her/hers
It/it/its/its
We/us/our/ours
They/them/their/theirs
The inflection is somewhat arbitrary, but the rule isn't: "Its" is the possessive inflection of "it" and "It's" is the contraction of "it is" or "it has."
The only way "it's" could be a possessive is if you're referring to an object which is properly referred to as "it" (for intance, if there were a band called It, then you could refer to It's new album).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 09:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 10:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 09:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 05:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 05:40 pm (UTC)From my LJ a few months back...
Date: 2008-11-17 07:21 pm (UTC)I'm quite annoyed at misspelled its.
Apostrophes won't make me frown
When marking nouns that own a noun;
And when it is is what you mean,
Well, then, it's is the proper scene.
But it's no noun, this fact I give:
No, rather, its is genitive.
-- ptk 071508
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 09:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-17 09:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-18 03:50 pm (UTC)