It's pretty embarrassing when a published author doesn't pay attention to the basics taught to 9 year olds in third grade. That, or pretty lazy. Neither speak well of someone who makes that mistake over and over again and who is a professional author.
That it's = it is.
It's pretty embarrassing when a published author doesn't pay attention to the basics taught to 9 year olds in third grade.
The number of hits returned from a Google search for "its vs it's:" 1,030,000,000. Searching Google for "its vs it's grammar" will return a still impressive 41,100,000 hits.
41 million online grammar lessons and no one gets this right.
It's ridiculous.
Let's take the most salient, and for some the most grating, example: its vs. it's.
The distinction is simple, the grammarian says.
''It's'' is a contraction of ''it is.'' Therefore, ''it'' requires an apostrophe. Everyone who thinks otherwise should be burned in a fire.
But wait! To form the possessive in English, we add 's to the end of the noun. Thus, we might expect '''it's'' to be possessive, and ''its'' to be plural.
What we have is two word formation rules that are in conflict: The rule for possessive formation leads us to believe that ''it's'' is a possessive, while the rule for contraction formation leads us to believe that it's a contraction. Which rule, then, gets precedence? There is no straightforward way to resolve this. We just have to pick one, accept the resulting inconsistency, and go with it.
To top it all, it doesn't really matter. The distinction between ''its'' and ''it's'' only is without force. You are never going to be in a position where you could be confused between the two.
There are many more examples: ''there'' vs. ''their, ''lose'' vs. ''loose,'' etc. Each is a clear violation of grammar, but that's it. There is no confusion in meaning or intent. No argument will be led astray because of a resulting misunderstanding. But still, it's continually made a point of argument. The contention is usually that poor grammar and spelling is an indication of stupidity, which means arguments from grammar are a particularly anemic ad hominem.
Gladwell needs to learn something. (Score:0)
That it's = it is.
It's pretty embarrassing when a published author doesn't pay attention to the basics taught to 9 year olds in third grade. That, or pretty lazy. Neither speak well of someone who makes that mistake over and over again and who is a professional author.
1, 030, 000, 000 (Score:2, Interesting)
That it's = it is.
It's pretty embarrassing when a published author doesn't pay attention to the basics taught to 9 year olds in third grade.
The number of hits returned from a Google search for "its vs it's:" 1,030,000,000. Searching Google for "its vs it's grammar" will return a still impressive 41,100,000 hits.
41 million online grammar lessons and no one gets this right.
It's ridiculous.
Let's take the most salient, and for some the most grating, example: its vs. it's.
The distinction is simple, the grammarian says. ''It's'' is a contraction of ''it is.'' Therefore, ''it'' requires an apostrophe. Everyone who thinks otherwise should be burned in a fire.
But wait! To form the possessive in English, we add 's to the end of the noun. Thus, we might expect '''it's'' to be possessive, and ''its'' to be plural.
What we have is two word formation rules that are in conflict: The rule for possessive formation leads us to believe that ''it's'' is a possessive, while the rule for contraction formation leads us to believe that it's a contraction. Which rule, then, gets precedence? There is no straightforward way to resolve this. We just have to pick one, accept the resulting inconsistency, and go with it.
To top it all, it doesn't really matter. The distinction between ''its'' and ''it's'' only is without force. You are never going to be in a position where you could be confused between the two.
There are many more examples: ''there'' vs. ''their, ''lose'' vs. ''loose,'' etc. Each is a clear violation of grammar, but that's it. There is no confusion in meaning or intent. No argument will be led astray because of a resulting misunderstanding. But still, it's continually made a point of argument. The contention is usually that poor grammar and spelling is an indication of stupidity, which means arguments from grammar are a particularly anemic ad hominem.
Criticizing grammar errors impedes communication [dailyillini.com]
[[I think it only fair that the grammar Nazi should be forced to post a quote like this into every forum page where cut-and-paste does not work.]]
Re:1, 030, 000, 000 (Score:2)
But wait! To form the possessive in English, we add 's to the end of the noun.
"It" is not a noun.