Timeline for Why don't we use an apostrophe to denote ownership on 'it'? [duplicate]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
19 events
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| Jan 28, 2015 at 1:48 | comment | added | Michael Owen Sartin | @tchrist I do take your point, but I do not agree that apostrophes are always silent in terms of family names. If the family Jones wants to call their jointly-owned automobile the Jones' care, I will not argue with them. If they want "to pronounce" the apostrophe and call the vehicle the "Jones'es" car, I ain't gonna argue with them. But I always appreciate your insights. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 1:31 | comment | added | dwjohnston | @GeorgePompidou - It didn't show up as related when I typed the question. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:09 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | @MichaelOwenSartin No, Michael: the correct question would in that case be “Is Mister Its’s car ready yet?” I fear you’ve been duped: speech is primary. You just write down what people say, which is where real language resides — in their speech. Oh, and apostrophes are silent. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:07 | history | closed |
anongoodnurse Robusto tchrist♦ choster Janus Bahs Jacquet |
Duplicate of Why doesn't "its" have an apostrophe? | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:07 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | @GeorgePompidou So you are saying that you are merely following the downvote arrow’s popup tooltip advice that “This question does not show any research effort”? :) | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:04 | comment | added | user85526 | I downvoted because there's a trillion answers for it on this site, Google, the rest of the internet, a trillion books, and inside brains. Pointless to ask again. edit: Though I suppose I am making a bit more of a fuss about it than is reasonable. Sorry. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:02 | comment | added | John Lawler | And, by the way, why is everybody voting down the question just because you don't know or don't like the answer? The rules for apostrophic succession are just as byzantine as the rules for courtship, and far less fun to investigate. Apostrophes are a vermiform appendix in the rubegoldbergian English orthography, and it's not worth lavishing any attention on them at all. Unless, of course, they meta'sta'siz'e. | |
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:01 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | @JohnLawler I keep telling them that apostrophes are silent, but they’ve been so misundereducated that they nearly always insist that an apostrophe can be pronounced /əz/. Drives me crazy. | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:57 | comment | added | John Lawler | @Mark: Commas can be heard, but apostrophe's are silent. Q.E.D. Oh, and I don't wear a tie clip seriously. | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:56 | comment | added | Michael Owen Sartin | I understand there is a man named John Its. When he comes to pick up his car after an oil change they ask, "Its' car is ready, right?" | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:54 | comment | added | Robusto | @JohnLawler: Tell me you don't wear a tie clip. Seriously. | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:54 | comment | added | Michael Owen Sartin | @JohnLawler You write "if I werent in the habit. . . ." :) | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:52 | comment | added | Mark Raishbrook | Its not at all arbitrary the placement of apostrophes. Think of the apostrophes distant cousin the comma. Whered we be without either? Lets do away with both of them in fact leave it to peoples taste when to employ either. And if we use them wrongly or not at all whos to blame? But thing's do tend to get messy if we dont follow rules dont they? | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:51 | history | edited | tchrist♦ |
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| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:23 | comment | added | John Lawler | There's no particular good reason. It's just the crazy way we write English. Apostrophes aren't pronounced, so we can't tell the difference between it's and its in real language. This means that apostrophe placement in spelling is arbitrary, and this can be verified by noting how often they're misplaced in writing. I wouldnt use them at all if I werent in the habit. They're like cufflinks and tie clips -- stylish in certain contexts, but a pain in the ass elsewhere. | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 23:13 | answer | added | Mynamite | timeline score: 4 | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 22:52 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 14, 2014 at 0:10 | |||||
| Aug 13, 2014 at 22:40 | comment | added | dwjohnston | Cat's is already used for the contraction cat is, but it doesn't stop us there. eg. The cat's sleeping. The cat's litterbox. | |
| Aug 13, 2014 at 22:28 | history | asked | dwjohnston | CC BY-SA 3.0 |