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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!news.adelaide.edu.au!gateway.dircsa.org.au!cleese.apana.org.au!apanix.apana.org.au!hart From: hart@apanix.apana.org.au (Leigh Hart) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.apps Subject: Re: Special Sale On QNX! Date: 2 Oct 94 02:14:30 GMT Organization: Apanix Public Access Unix, +61 8 373 5485 (5 lines) Lines: 40 Message-ID: <hart.781064070@apanix.apana.org.au> References: <CwqDKr.JD@gnome.co.uk> <3698gs$439@wsiserv.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: seldon.apanix.apana.org.au gabara@peanuts.Informatik.Uni-Tuebingen.DE (Andrej Gabara) writes: >|>I must not post commercials on the net; its bad enough having to read >|>postings by JMJ. >Make that: >I must not post spelling mistakes on the net; it's bad enough to read >messages confusing "its" with "it's". I think it is worse to read flames based on gramatical errors. You failed to explain why, rather, you just stated "I'm right, you're wrong". Here is a fairly complete description of "its" vs. "it's": With "it's", the appostrophe indicates contraction rather than possession. "It's" means "it is" or "it has"; the possessive form is "its". The forms "its" and "it's" are particularly problematic. Since nouns show possession with the ending "'s" (the boy's hat; a hat's cover), people often incorrectly extend this rule to the pronoun "it" and form the possessive "it's". Sentences containing the word "it's" may be ambiguous. For example, in the sentence "I understand it's trouble," the word "it's" mayt stand for "it is" or it may be an error for "its". Sunch ambiguous interpretations can be avoided by spelling out "it's" as "it is" or "it has". There, now doesn't that encourage better grammar for the future? Cheers Leigh [tongue planted firmly in cheek] -- | "By the time they had diminished | Leigh Hart | | from 50 to 8, the other dwarves | <hart@eppie.apana.org.au> | | began to suspect 'Hungry' ..." | C/- 195 Gilles Street | | -- Gary Larson, "The Far Side" | Adelaide SA 5006 |