Apostrophes

Ah well, we all know how evil and shocking amazon is [sarc emoticon]

vampirequeen It isn't true. The puppies are all okay.

Apostrophes are my blind spot

There's a thread about the rise of 'gifting' further down...

I have to admit that when I write its I do stop and think for a moment. The fact that hers does not have an apostrophe is a helpful way of remembering it.
My current wince, and it is the season to be wincing, because the so and sos are all ** "gifting" instead of "giving". AAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!
Amazon etc are to blame methinks.

It's JessM's turn now.

Careful absent - if we keep posting the same replies, it will fuel the conspiracy theory.

vampirequeen It doesn't break the rules. It's – meaning it is – has an apostrophe because the second i has been omitted. Its, the possessive – as in its meaning – doesn't have an apostrophe any more than my, your, his, her, our or their have apostrophes.

I can see why 'its' causes confusion, because you would expect it to need an apostrophe to show 'belonging to it', but in fact it is treated as the neutral form of the possessive adjective i.e. his, hers, its.

Ah yes but what about its....it breaks the rotten rules. I hate apostrophes lol

So I'll carry on killing puppies almost everytime I write lol.

Apostrophes are very easy to use, they have only two functions. One is when a letter is omitted (don't, you're, can't) and the other is to show possession ( the boy's dog, one boy, the boys' dogs, more than one boy).
Simple plurals just need an 's' or in the case of some words borrowed from French, an 'x' ( gateaux). Not an apostrophe in sight.