The death of the possessive its

Tillybelle, I never said that I corrected a written sentence with "so". I have heard this on both radio and television news and find it irritating. I never mentioned " but" at all.
My observation of " so" was meant lightheartedly. The irony seems to have been lost.

I love these grammar rants. It reassures me that I'm not the only one who's irritated by lazy notices. I've tried to correct the notice for our local farm shop, which sells Freds turkey's, and ham's but unfortunately it's in paint rather than chalk. I love Santa Montefiore's books, but why are her characters always bored of something.

GrandetanteJE65


'I believe.....had got better'?
Two different tenses there.
Either 'I believed...had got better' or ' I believe .....has got better'.

What does the apostrophe in "I broke John's leg" stand for?

It stands for "of" or "belonging to" as in The leg of John or The leg belonging to John. That's why it's referred to as the possessive apostrophe.

I was taught a useful way to work out where apostrophes should go: ask what the thing that requires an apostrophe belongs to. John's leg....whose leg?... the leg of John. So the apostrophe comes after John.

If it was I broke the tables' legs (more than one table)... the legs of/belonging to the tables. So the apostrophe comes after the plural word tables as shown.

Works every time.

The possessive its appears to break this rule so it's not really surprising that people get it wrong, especially with autocorrect getting it consistently wrong.

Which is why I put its in the list with other possessives which also don't need apostrophes: his, hers, its, yours, theirs.

tillybelle, it hasn't died in good literature but it is dying in more and more places, it seems.

Will somebody please tell me what a 'fronted adverbial' is.

One of the DDs as a young reader was genuinely by a sign on a farm gate reading 'Fresh eggs please drive in'.
I share many of these irritations, but am bit shocked at the triumphant altering of notices. Isn't this like snubbing people in public?

Languages and grammar evolve.
Heard a language expert on the radio say it doesn’t matter as long as you’re understood.

Still, I prefer correct use of apostrophes and speech and speech marks, and the correct use of ‘its’ and ‘it’s’.

‘So’ seems to be used by scientists especially, when trying to explain something.

A sign in a shop near here 'Flowers for funeral's, wedding's and birthday's.'

Lets eat granny.
Let's eat, granny.

Bathsheba if Josepha is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs Francis - how come her own surname is Williams?? )

Languages and grammar evolve.

Yes, but is punctuation actually grammar? It's usually separate in schools when writing is marked on SPAG, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Punctuation has a key role in making one's writing clear and unambiguous. Poorly punctuated text is much more difficult to read than properly punctuated text because one has to keep stopping to check what the writer's intention is. It also makes learning to read more difficult for beginners. It's OK for skilled readers who can fairly easily work out what is meant but it isn't helpful for inexperienced readers.

Having spent the last few years of my working life supporting children with poor, or nonexistent, reading skills I think that poor punctuation is a menace!

GG What about a post mentioning the Met Office and it's forecast?
People in glass houses.............

Lets eat granny.
Let's eat, granny.

I think the apostrophe is required in both of the 'Lets' as they are both contractions of 'let us'

Loose instead of lose has be groaning every time 'I'm worried I will loose my keys' nooooo!

But I have to own up to putting a 'So' at the beginning to ask certain people a question. (I would never do it in text). It attracts their attention that I am speaking to them, and www.gransnet.com/forums/culture_arts/a1258577-The-death-of-the-possessive-itsthey hear the rest of the question. If I just ask the question they miss the first few words and I have to repeat myself! Anyone else do this?

Pah ha ha!

Yr5 & 6 Spelling & Grammar syllabus.

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Pupils should be taught to:

develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English appendix 2 by:
recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms
using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence
using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause
using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely
using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (ie omitted) relative pronoun
learning the grammar for years 5 and 6 in English appendix 2
indicate grammatical and other features by:
using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
using hyphens to avoid ambiguity
using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
using semicolons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses
using a colon to introduce a list
punctuating bullet points consistently
use and understand the grammatical terminology in English appendix 2 accurately and appropriately in discussing their writing and reading

mcem

YAARDB.
Yeah...I'm not even going to write the words but *I *know what they mean.
YATWOS.
You seem to keep notes on various old comments. Try working this one out.
?

PECS
Why no punctuation in your last comment?

Ask the government GG54 it is copied from their webbsite.

kathsue
Why not Google the question? It's quicker.

PECS
What dorks.

The button had come off its coat requires no apostrophe and it is still in my word collection and I use it regularly.

As far as I am concerned it is not the 'late lamented' but still in robust health.

A friend of mine snapped when she saw the sign outside her local butcher’s saying ‘Fresh pies’ for sale’. She ran in and said ‘There is no apostrophe in pies!’ Indignant shop assistant replied ‘I don’t know what’s in the pies I only serve here’!!