I can't say I've noticed a lot of people getting this wrong. It's not the hardest thing to get right, really.
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Why do so many people get "its" wrong?
- Thread starter TheDanger
- Start date
OP
OP
um yeah it is? There is literally no way "it's" can mean anything other than "it is" or "it has" no matter the context. So it is always incorrect to use "it's" for "its" (possessive). E.g: "The jury has reached its decision." You can't say "The jury has reached it is decision."
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This and unnecessary possessives are one of the most common grade school level mistakes I see people make.
It's and its are so different from each other. I can't understand how it could be confused! Next thing you will tell me people confuse than and then.
Its usage goes against one of the more monolithic rules in the English language. I can't really think of any other situation where the possessive apostrophe wouldn't be used.
People don't think about that.
There's also the common mistake people make between there, they're, and their.
I can explain it by my phone sucking. No matter how many times I fix an intended "its" back to be "its" from the phone having changed it to "it's", the phone doesn't remember it the next time I write its but tries to change it to "it's" even though it should be learning these things/"new words" I enter.
I'm just talking about it being different than the typical "rule" not that it can somehow be anything. It's its own rule, a different rule that doesn't follow common convention
At least an its/it's mix-up can be put down to an autocorrect error or simply a typo (as opposed to a fundamental misunderstanding of English grammar). "Would of" instead of would've, on the other hand, has no such excuse, it just sounds grammatical trolling.
Disclaimer: Not a native speaker :p
Disclaimer: Not a native speaker :p
Because it's an easy mistake to make when typing and autocorrect won't pick it up. Even the auto-grammar on a Mac won't usually highlight its/it's.
Thank you!
I'm a writing tutor, which might make you think I'm pedantic about grammar and language, but in reality most things don't bother me simply because I see them all the time. But apostrophes in plurals drive me up a wall. The only thing worse is "of" in place of "have" and the constant use of the noun form of "hype" in place of the verb of adjectival form.
God, I see so many students who constantly use "whom" incorrectly, and it's so easy to tell that they are just trying to pepper it in to their writing without understanding why. I always tell them when in doubt to just use "who". More often than not that will suffice.
Can someone tell me the proper use of effect vs affect? Yes, English isn't my first language :(
This. Every other word uses apostrophe for possessive words. Its is the only exception as far as I know
I feel we shouldn't get hanged up on people making small mistakes.
That's defiantly a strange mistake to make so definitely.
It is the rule. His, hers, ours, yours, its.
Not hi's, her's, our's, your's, it's.
If people are going to be so pedantic I'm gonna need to delete this post huh
Yes, when you make a wildly incorrect post about a rule you should refuse to acknowledge that you were wrong and instead hide the evidence.
You're taking it very literally. I was trying to say the rule that people commonly know isn't that way, it's its own rule, but I didn't realize people would run with the assumption that I literally don't know how words work
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If you're using it as a noun, the correct choice is almost always "effect"; "affect" is a psychological technical term.
As a verb, "affect" is used to
*convey pretense, e.g. "he affected an air of sophistication" or "he affected a good mood despite his frustration"
*indicate that something impacts something/has an effect on something, e.g. "the shitbag president of the US is adversely affecting the global economy"
"Effect", on the other hand, is used to indicate that something is brought about, e.g. "in a non-shitty timeline, congress effected sweeping firearm reforms".
Take it with a grain of salt though, I'm not a native speaker.
The only time I would expect good grammar standards or really even judge someone's grammar is in an academic or business setting. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have good grammar otherwise, but if people get a few things wrong or are bellow average, I just assume it's someone being a bit quick with their writing, English isn't their first language, or even that they may be from a less privileged background. All of which are perfectly fine. For myself, it's been decades since I've been in an environment where I've had to regularly practice good grammar standards and they've weakened over the years.
As is always the case with grammar issues like this, the fact is a lot of people, myself included, completely ignore them in casual typing. The only reason this it's and this they're have apostrophes is because my autocorrect put them there.
Basically, who gives a shit?
Basically, who gives a shit?
Affect is a verb and effect is a noun.
Two examples:
"I am feeling the effects of the alcohol" (feeling is the verb in this sentence)
"The alcohol has affected me" (affected is the verb in this sentence)
Hold on right there ...
No, but really, it's a common mistake in English, along with mixing up "loose" and "lose", "affect" and "effect", and others. I see their misuse here, very frequently.
It doesn't help that spellcheck doesn't catch them.
I have a blind spot for homonyms. I think it's because the speech areas of my brain compose my thoughts before I write them. If I stop and recognize I'm about to type one, I know the right one to use, but they often slip through.
This. It's not hard to figure out where the confusion comes from.
It's just another one of those weird exceptions you have to remember.
Its not that we're getting it wrong, its just easier and trivial to correct. Can't really compare it to a misspelled word either since it's more on punctuation.
*The first 2 it's were intentional since my phone automatically enters the word as it's based on my text.
Now a lot and alot is another story.
*The first 2 it's were intentional since my phone automatically enters the word as it's based on my text.
Now a lot and alot is another story.
Because English is a dumb language. 'Apostrophe (s)' is regularly used both to indicate possession and as a contraction, so why is it suddenly different for this pronoun?
I understand it and usually get it right and it's definitely a little peeve of mine because of how hard it was drilled into me, but I don't get upset at people for the mistake.
I understand it and usually get it right and it's definitely a little peeve of mine because of how hard it was drilled into me, but I don't get upset at people for the mistake.
i just sing the Strongbad song "If you want a possessive, it's just I-T-S. But if you want a contraction, it's I-T-apostrophe-S" in my head constantly.
Mobile may be an issue even if you don't just follow auto-correct. Typing ' on phone is slow, because it is (at least on my phone) tied as an alternative to some letter.
I find it less annoying than all the people who use "an" wrong. "an" goes before a vowel sound not a consonant.
Ex) an English tourist
But everyone just uses it wrong sometimes putting it before a consonant.
Ex) an English tourist
But everyone just uses it wrong sometimes putting it before a consonant.
I don't know how you two managed to cover almost every single commonly-made mistake on the Internet in just two posts. I'm kind of amazed.