George Bernard Shaw would have loved this page.

GBS (George Bernard Shaw) hated to use punctuation,
I thought every one knew that.
http://nevalalee.wordpress.com/tag/george-bernard-shaw/

Hmn, he's never heard of a word processor. Those damned things put them in for you :)

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As I was taught, use the apostrophe for the contraction it is => it's, but not for the possessive its. Is that how you learned it?

it's: use only when you can replace the word with either "it is" or "it has".
its: is the possessive form for it.

E.g. The dog has had its bone and it's chewing it to bits.

That's how I understand it. The slightly confusing thing about it is that the rule is that you don't use the apostrophe for the possessive, but you do to indicate that a noun possesses something. Angela's cherry cheesecake pie. Vic's swamp cooler. David Frost's death. David's thunderstorm (happening right now).

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153156396165433&set=a.10153171811345433.1073741825.132194570432&type=1&permPage=1

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

My pet-peeve is about the fact that none of the people whose first language is English know how to use the little word of its correctly. All of you always add the totally unnecessary apostrophe. And then you get that one everywhere, from forum posts to Wikipedia, to the IMDB, to FAQs, to paperback books, to more official letters.

You might be pleased to know that I'm reminded of your profile entry each time I correct an it's into an its - or when I spend a moment of staring hard at it to see whether or not I should be using an apostrophe. :)

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A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. (Mark Twain)

That's how I understand it. The slightly confusing thing about it is that the rule is that you don't use the apostrophe for the possessive, but you do to indicate that a noun possesses something. Angela's cherry cheesecake pie. Vic's swamp cooler. David Frost's death. David's thunderstorm (happening right now).

Well, you don't type hi's for his, her's for hers and our's for ours either. So why do it for its?

What gets me the most is that people whose first language is not English are now following those whose first language is English, into typing it wrong. They may think that there's been a new grammar rule set into motion after they'd stopped learning English at school. Those whose first (and probably only) language is English should lead by example by doing it right.

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That's how I understand it. The slightly confusing thing about it is that the rule is that you don't use the apostrophe for the possessive, but you do to indicate that a noun possesses something. Angela's cherry cheesecake pie. Vic's swamp cooler. David Frost's death. David's thunderstorm (happening right now).

Well, you don't type hi's for his, her's for hers and our's for ours either. So why do it for its?

What gets me the most is that people whose first language is not English are now following those whose first language is English, into typing it wrong. They may think that there's been a new grammar rule set into motion after they'd stopped learning English at school. Those whose first (and probably only) language is English should lead by example by doing it right.

To lead by example, they have to know the correct way in the first place. I've heard complaints from many of my schoolteacher friends that American schools do not place as much importance on the proper use of grammar and punctuation as when we were in school. They are more concerned with the ability to connumicate effectively. I always thought that the two go hand-in-hand, but my degree is in engineering, not education. Then, too, we live in the age of Twitter......

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

I'm also an engineer, but my strongest subject in high school (many years ago!) was English. In my third undergraduate year at university (college), I did a practical course in which students completed experimental work in pairs, but were then required to report their work independently. Each pair of students therefore left the lab each week with the identical data. I passed the subject (well), whereas my partner, who had a poor command of English, failed.

Clear communication is essential in many fields of endeavour, and the emergence of the information age (yes, Twitter and Facebook included) does not - in my view - diminish this requirement one iota.

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I have the impression sometimes that English is much easier than Dutch, German or French for me. That's why I never write poetry in Dutch. It's just so much harder for me to express myself in my mother tongue, very strange...

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

I have the impression sometimes that English is much easier than Dutch, German or French for me. That's why I never write poetry in Dutch. It's just so much harder for me to express myself in my mother tongue, very strange...

Seems to me that it is much easier to express yourself in rhyme in English. Maybe that has something to do with it....

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

I have the impression sometimes that English is much easier than Dutch, German or French for me. That's why I never write poetry in Dutch. It's just so much harder for me to express myself in my mother tongue, very strange...

Seems to me that it is much easier to express yourself in rhyme in English. Maybe that has something to do with it....

You could be right, Donald. I was also brought up, surrounded by people who talk English, could have something to do with that too, of course

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures