Its and it's

Baggs, this is predictive texting changing the letters and the poster not noticing the change, most of us do know the difference.

I used to think that about predictive text too, david, but it's too consistently wrong. I'm not just talking about its use on Gransnet; it's something that strikes me all over the place. It's odd that so few people notice and make the correction, I think.

It's because most people remember being taught the possessive apostrophe. Sam's coat, the dog's bowl etc. So when they write its they forget that it goes with his and her. No one would write his's or her's house but it sounds like a possessive so people put in the apostrophe.

People just don't understand apostrophes and tbh it would make far more sense to do away with them and use context instead.

I don't understand all the rules; I just put what I think.

Oh, and I do leave some out because I'm too lazy to correct my phone's first suggestion.

Well can t be bothered to correct even if I know its wrong (see what I did there?!)

I no longer notice. ?

I don't think this has been taught in schools for a long time.
Most grammar hasn't been, and spelling doesn't get much attention either.

I disagree.Grammar and spelling play a significant part in my grandchildren's education both primary and secondary. In fact I have just been helping the thirteen year old with personal pronouns and the past perfect tense.Very satisfying!

Baggs

Why do so few people seem to know that it's always means "it is"?

So a phrase like "do its own thing" with an apostrophe in the its is wrong. No-one would say "do it is own thing".

To be pedantic, Baggs, it's doesn't always mean it is - it can also mean it has.

That said, its misuse is certainly hard to overlook if you have tbeen taught it, along with similar things such as whose/who's, though I say that as someone who didn't learn these things until I was an adult, as they weren't taught in my secondary school in the '70s.

The apostrophe is often misused now and you are correct.

However, it is not usually difficult to understand what the poster means, and I prefer to go with the spirit of the post rather than take it apart as regards punctuation. And as Davidhs says, predictive text sometimes plays games with us.

I try and remember that I was privileged when it came to education, but not everyone was so lucky.

A lot of things in language change over time, e.g. bored of instead of bored with, but that has always been so. Language evolves; so be it.

If people don't know where to put the apostrophe, please don't just sprinkle it about willy nilly. Grr....

when in doubt leave it out.
most of what i know is from reading grammar books after i left school. very little of use taught at school. luck of the draw.
and as you see i frequently now don't bother with upper case.
nor worry about beginning a sentence with a joining word.
i'm too old to care now. still say tooken occasionally.
clarity of meaning is my criterion.
but i remember shouting at bus automated announcements, THE british museum. anyone else noticed this. it annoys me i think because most people on the bus have english as a second language, and it gives them a bad example.
it's the kind of thing they do like to get right. like not saying i arrived to the station. or even worse, on the train, the next station stop is blabbermouth. perhaps i have a thing about public transport. i complained at euston station (stop) enquiry office once about a sign, requesting customers (! eek) to form one line. i must have sounded like victor meldrew.
passing by the following week, i noticed it had been changed as i urged, please queue here.

I hate apostrophe's and avoided or misuse'd them but then a 'friend sent me this. Now Im far more careful'.

Its is a possessive pronoun, like his, hers, ours, yours, mine, theirs... no-one would apostrophise any of them. It's just that people get confused because there are two 'its'..

An apostrophe signifies a missing letter or letters. It's thought that nouns used to have a 'possesive' case e.g boy's would be 'boyis', the apostrophe shows that the 'i' is missing.

There used to be lots of 'short cuts' in old English orthography; such as X represented the word 'Christ', so in old parish registers you'll find Christopher written as Xtopher.

I did a bit of paleography many years ago, it's fascinating and does make you realise some things which had always been a puzzle! However, I didn't use it very much so can't remember all the 'shortcut' symbols now...

If the schoolma’am in me ever gets bored, I could go through GN threads with a red pen and make multitudinous corrections. The level of education varies hugely between posters, and it would be a terrible shame if the only people qualified to post were those whose use of English is impeccable. The only time I struggle is when the language is so garbled that I can’t figure out what a poster is saying, and I just skip over those posts.

^ The level of education varies hugely between posters, and it would be a terrible shame if the only people qualified to post were those whose use of English is impeccable.^

I agree. Also, I was educated in grammar and punctuation but I don't bother too much when I'm posting on social media. Its not that important imo.

It does my bl**dy head in Baggs!

Another example that I loathe, is 'should of'. Nooo!!!!

I appreciate that point annepl. And I try not to comment. But its and it's is SUCH a basic one. I expect 11 year old foreign students to know it, so it is REALLY too much to expect native Brits to know it too?

Well, I expect it's (note: apostrophe) teachers faults if pupils don't know.

There, that's put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Hahaha, MissAdventure! Touche. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water...

I'm glad you saw the funny side.
Punctuation was almost an afterthought when I was at school.

We skimmed it briefly, but, to be honest, I've not the faintest clue when people here talk about it in depth.

We're trained to do 'cyclical learning'. To cover something repeatedly, but with a light touch. But there is SO much to cover in grammar and punctuation, contractions would only come up maybe once or twice a year.

There is a lot, and to be honest, I find I couldn't give a flying fart these days.
My job requires me to write accurate, factual notes, and I can do that easily.

MissAdventure

Well, I expect it's (note: apostrophe) teachers faults if pupils don't know.

There, that's put the cat amongst the pigeons.

<grin> I believe there should be an additional apostrophe:
Well, I expect it’s teachers’ faults if pupils don’t know.