I don't consider myself to have OCD. I love the way a skew painting makes me feel like the whole world is tilted, I can't say I mind too much for nails scraping a black board and I don't particularly get my earlobes in a twist when Mr X rocks brown shoes with black pants. But if there's one thing that really steams my kidneys, it's wrong use of the apostrophe. I'd be lying if I said I haven't typed quite a few snide comments under Facebook statuses in my day, even though I've never had the heart to actually post it.
Now, Ghandi said: "Be the change you want to see in the world." Well, Mr Ghandi, I really want the world to use the apostrophe correctly, so this is me being the change...
Starting with baby steps:
it's vs its
Now if you're reading this and feeling like...
...fear not, fair lady or fiery lad. Once you've grasped that first straw, you'll see it's really not such a scary concept. The first and most basic rule of thumb is (in the words of Shakespeare I think...? I stand corrected):
"Dude, you can't just leave out letters and not replace it with something." If you're chucking
out letters, the least you can do for those poor mutilated words is to chuck
in an apostrophe. This means:
- it is = it
is = it's
- it has = it
has = it's
So, when you're (you are) writing a sentence and not sure whether to use its or it's, simply ask yourself: Will the sentence still make sense if I use "it is" or "it has" instead?
- If the answer is YES, use it's.
- If the answer is NO, use its.
Of course, it gets a little more complex down the line - grammar has (it is...? nah) its fair share of mountains to climb, but for now it's (it is) really as simple as that.
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| No hard feelings...? |
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