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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by SwissArmyKazoo@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world
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[-] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago

An apostrophe always takes the place of other letters. "It's" (the contraction) always means "it is". The possessive form of "it" is always "its".

Yes, it matters. Yes, I knew what was intended based on context this time, but context isn’t always available or reliable. The only way to be sure you won't be misunderstood is to follow the same rules as everyone else every time.

[-] daychilde@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Grocer here ju'st to 'say that you are 'stupidly wrong. A's anyone can tell you, the apo'strophe alway's come's before an "'s", dumba's's.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

This is the perfect level of wrong to be hilarious

[-] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I almost attributed it in the post, but "apologies" to Sir Terry Pratchett in his Discworld novels, although I'm sure many people have similarly had the idea :)

[-] topherclay@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

That's not true in the case of possessives like "my son's toy." In fact it's the opposite because the apostrophe here just denotes that it's possesive which is the opposite of the it's vs its example.

You might have learned that it replaces part of the word "his" in "my son his toy" but that's not the real etymology.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

It's not taking the place of "my son's"; it's taking the place of "his".

[-] paraphrand@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Well, now the kids just think its a signal you didn’t use AI. So its cool to do.

this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
228 points (96.0% liked)

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