I'm something of a grammar pedant, and I know when to use each, but I frequently get "it's" and "its" mixed up unless I'm very careful.

I understand that "it's" is a contraction of "it is" and that's why it has an apostrophe. However, "its" is the possessive form of it -- why doesn't it have an apostrophe as well? I can't readily think of other possessives ending in "s" that don't have an apostrophe.

Anybody?

yours? his? theirs?

I'm not bothered by grammar. The one thing that drives me insane

"I could care less"

phatj wrote:I'm something of a grammar pedant, and I know when to use each, but I frequently get "it's" and "its" mixed up unless I'm very careful.

I understand that "it's" is a contraction of "it is" and that's why it has an apostrophe. However, "its" is the possessive form of it -- why doesn't it have an apostrophe as well? I can't readily think of other possessives ending in "s" that don't have an apostrophe.

Anybody?

In the case, and with other contractions, the apostrophe is used to indicate the absence of a letter/letters. (That's the rule I use to remember).

Also, "his", "hers", "theirs", and "ours" -- all posessive pronouns, like "its".

FTN wrote:I'm not bothered by grammar. The one thing that drives me insane

"I could care less"

Yeah, I hate that one. If you could care less, why don't you?

MrsVox wrote:Also, "his", "hers", "theirs", and "ours" -- all posessive pronouns, like "its".

I don't like commas and periods on the outside of quotation marks.

FTN wrote:I'm not bothered by grammar. The one thing that drives me insane

"I could care less"

That one has pissed me off for a while. When people use it, it just seems to me that they're not even thinking what things mean when they say it.

The only annoyance I really have is with the assassination of the English language by Internet denizens. They just completely and intentionally change the spelling of words, and it's not even really phonetic.

It's also annoying when people use Internet shorthand in face-to-face interactions. I used to work with a guy who'd say "lol" (rhymes with roll) instead of laughing.

CrashburnAlley wrote:I used to work with a guy who'd say "lol" (rhymes with roll) instead of laughing.

I think that's kind of funny actually.

This could of been a good topic

Your off to a good start tho.

Cranky old man club for you people too.

Slowhand wrote:

CrashburnAlley wrote:I used to work with a guy who'd say "lol" (rhymes with roll) instead of laughing.

I think that's kind of funny actually.

It is funny, but he was serious when he said it. And it got annoying after a while. I like the positive affect of someone laughing when I say something hilarious (which, believe me, is not often; I am much more familiar with the cricket-chirping).

I will definitely be a cranky old man. I might be one already.

I have pretty much have no idea what the difference is between affect and effect. I mean, I can usually figure it out, but to be safe, I almost always use the word influence if I can to avoid confusion.

MrsVox wrote:

phatj wrote:I'm something of a grammar pedant, and I know when to use each, but I frequently get "it's" and "its" mixed up unless I'm very careful.

I understand that "it's" is a contraction of "it is" and that's why it has an apostrophe. However, "its" is the possessive form of it -- why doesn't it have an apostrophe as well? I can't readily think of other possessives ending in "s" that don't have an apostrophe.

Anybody?

In the case, and with other contractions, the apostrophe is used to indicate the absence of a letter/letters. (That's the rule I use to remember).

Also, "his", "hers", "theirs", and "ours" -- all posessive pronouns, like "its".

OK, so I'm not so bright and forgot all the possessive pronouns.

Still, if I were Lord of English, I'd do something about this, dammit.

jerseyhoya wrote:I have pretty much have no idea what the difference is between affect and effect. I mean, I can usually figure it out, but to be safe, I almost always use the word influence if I can to avoid confusion.

An effect is the result of a cause, affect is influence. The old cause and effect thing...

jerseyhoya wrote:I have pretty much have no idea what the difference is between affect and effect. I mean, I can usually figure it out, but to be safe, I almost always use the word influence if I can to avoid confusion.

As a general rule - affect = verb; effect = not a verb

TenuredVulture wrote:Cranky old man club for you people too.

I'm not sure cranky old man club works here. The old men here are pretty chilly willy. Maybe we need a cranky young men club.

You guys do need to stay the hell off my lawn though.

Drugs Delaney wrote:

MrsVox wrote:Also, "his", "hers", "theirs", and "ours" -- all posessive pronouns, like "its".

I don't like commas and periods on the outside of quotation marks.

My recollection of what I was taught was that the punctuation should go inside the quotes, however I have come to understand that today's rules are such that the punctuation should go inside the quotes when it applies to the quotation itself. If the punctuation is for the sentence as a whole, it should go outside.

This usage would be the latter case, except that really the words in MrxVox's list should be in italics rather than in quotes.

Aside from being counted on to spell grammar wrong most of the time, I can't stand the use of generic pronouns when they do not belong in the name of either laziness and/or political correctness. I'm talking about using "Their" instead of "his or her" or and every other variation on that theme.

And the whole it's vs its reason phatty presented is exactly why I screw it up. I also mess up Your and You're but that's just being dumb on my part - there's no rationale.

I end a lot of sentences with a preposition. So screw me.

VoxOrion wrote:Aside from being counted on to spell grammar wrong most of the time, I can't stand the use of generic pronouns when they do not belong in the name of either laziness and/or political correctness. I'm talking about using "Their" instead of "his or her" or and every other variation on that theme.

I actually understand and agree with the perceived need for gender-neutral pronouns. I wish someone would just invent new ones rather than preempt the plural pronouns, though.

What really bugs me is that the plural pronouns are all-too-frequently used as generic singluar pronouns, even when referring to a person of known gender, e.g. "If a hitter is patient they're more likely to get good pitches to hit."