It's and its

I always had trouble remembering which was which until someone pointed out that the possessive is the same as 'his', i.e. no apostrophe - never had the problem since!

I would have asked who had written the captions and expressed the hope that she/he was not teaching my child grammar.

"It's ball" is not used because of possible confusion with the "it is" meaning, e.g. if you were to write "It's back" would you be referring to the back belonging to "It" or the fact that "It" had returned?"

Yes but I could then say exactly the same confusion arises with "Janet's back" but we don't drop the possessive apostrophe in that case.

Thanks Rinouchka I will print off your clear explanation and keep it in my diary so I will have no excuse to get it wrong. I suspect I used it incorrectly the other day on GN but I can't remember which thread.

Sorry - what have I said (recently)?

Ana - you've said it.

Judge past the wrinkles? Meant "look past the wrinkles". Freudian slip.

Ok Kate, here goes:

passed= the past participle of "to pass" as in "We passed the house/test/salt/time" etc.

past:=
A) a preposition of time/direction etc.: in a past life, past address, past friend/husband/lover, etc.
B) an adverb: to look past/ go past/ work past retirement age, judge past the wrinkles, etc.!!

Hope that helps.

On the whole my grammar is quite good, however I always get muddled with past/passed.

Clear explanation required please.

My DD corrected my use of comparative adverbs yesterday.I said that I could get home quicker by bus.She said don't you mean more quickly ? I realised that I did !

OK. In a purely logical language (which thank goodness English isn't), the pronoun 'it' would have an apostrophe 's' to denote the possessive, i.e. something belonging to 'it' as in "It's tail" (and yes, I know this is incorrect). So to avoid confusion, when writing 'it' in all its forms, our wise scribes in days of yore have left out the apostrophe, leaving it in only to show the shortened form of "it is" or "it has".

You said:

"It's ball" is not used because of possible confusion with the "it is" meaning

I was just pointing out that that is not correct.

Typo (not a misspelt word!) - 'apostrophe'.

I'm well aware that 'its' is the possessive of 'it', but I was referring to the seeming illogicality as pointed out by Day6 and the underlying reason for the lack of an apostophe.

Its is the possessive form of it - nothing to do with possible confusion!

Mine
His
Hers
Its
Theirs

"It's ball" is not used because of possible confusion with the "it is" meaning, e.g. if you were to write "It's back" would you be referring to the back belonging to "It" or the fact that "It" had returned?

As a former teacher of grammar to speakers of other languages, I found that many of my students were better at English grammar than many native speakers who are either too dumb or too lazy to learn to speak or write the language of their birth properly.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about the apostrophe to denote possession. Her example was about Janet. Janet had a dog and a ball. The dog also had a ball to play with.

So to write "Janet's ball" is OK. The ball belongs to Janet.

If Fido the dog becomes an IT....why don't we write "It's ball."? The ball belong to it. 'Fido' ball' is fine, but "It's ball" isn't.

Yes, our language is confusing.

She said it was confusing.

Oddoneout - I agree with you, the use of 'myself' and 'yourself' instead of 'I' 'me' and 'you' really pushes my buttons, so much so that I have to bite my tongue when my colleagues use it.

It's adverbs with me.

Everyone kills them these days....

....even the BBC say "Wrap up warm".

AAAAAAAARRRRGH !!!

No not grumpy at all Judy, just irritating to see words being so misused. How I hate to hear "like" every second word usually younger people.

My bugbear is the use by the media of the word released. Ie. "He has been released from hospital" You are either discharged or have left a hospital. Released indicates that someone has been forcibly restrained and has now been given their freedom. I'm turning into a "like" grumpy old woman - and don't even get me started on the word "Like".

"Show Greg and I" - would you say "Show I"? That's my major irritation.....but it has become the norm so now I must accept it and stop being a grammar snob?!

'Try and' really bothers me. You don't 'try and,' you 'TRY TO,'

Another point from my long lost Latin classes - you can only have two alternatives, never three or more.

It's been Anglacised! (Is that how you spell it? Should it have a capital A?)