English: "its" versus "it's"

Platypus · May 2013

"They lost their appeal."
"She lost her appeal."
"He lost his appeal."
"It lost its appeal."

The word "its" is used when discussing something owned by a non-human. It doesn't contain an apostrophe.

For example,
"The cat lost its ear in a fight."
"Our software comes with its own self-improvement algorithm."

ON THE OTHER HAND,
The word "it's" is a contraction of "it is" (or "it has").

For example,
"It is going to win an award."
"It's going to win an award."

"It has already won three awards!"
"It's already won three awards!"

OZApps · May 2013

@platypus, these are as one may say high level grammar. Have you seen the most common misuse of

please bare with me
when did you here this?
your quite helpful
after you read this than thank me
I am fine with a daily build then a stable release
He makes an amazing pie, he is a good cooker
He can paint like Leonardo, he is a good drawer
This is there computer
Who new this was as much fun

there are plenty more such words, but then who really cares about grammar anymore, there isn't a compiler or a language parser that would throw out errors

OZApps · May 2013

Used by big name sites...

bowerandy · May 2013

@OZApps, it seems to me that if someone can't pay attention to detail in the way they write (or speak) then they may not be able to do so in the rest of their work either.

And, actually, I bet this parser would barf on those errors:

http://code.google.com/p/simplenlg/wiki/Section1

Computers have a hard enough time understanding natural language as it is without giving them crap input.

best regards

OZApps · May 2013

Strangely, English is one of the most popular languages that has a very strict grammar which could render the meaning of the sentence different from the intended, if the subject and the object were swapped.

In most other languages even if that was done, they are described well to retain the context.

For example,
The father hit the son
if we interchange the subject and object, it would read as
The son hit the father
which is entirely wrong

but in German, for example it would read as
The father hit *to* the son.
and when swapped,
To the son hit the father

In Hindi it has similar rules, where the sentence formation is as

Ram ne Ravan ko baan se maara - meaning that Ravan was shot down by Rama using a bow and arrow, where the three nouns are Ram, Ravan and baan where as the words ne, ko and se describe who, what, etc.

(Nominative)
ne is used to describe who, so in this case it was Rama. Who did it? Ram did
(Dative)
ko is used to describe to whom, so in this case it is Ravan. To whom? to Ravan
(Instruments)
se is used to described with what. so in this case baan. With what? with baan
(Action)
and then the verb maara, which means to kill, did what? Maara

So even if the words are interchanged, the sentence retains its context.
Ravan ko Ram ne Baan se maara
Baan se Ram ne Ravan ko maara
Ravan ko baan se Ram ne maara

I am sure no one is interested in learning Hindi or Grammar, but these are useful in parsing and learning language context retention.

Interesting, isn't it?

phongtt · May 2013

Yeah it's too interesting talking about the meaning of "its" and comparing its usage with "it's" too @-)

(Is this sentence grammatically correct @Platypus? :P)

OZApps · May 2013

@phongtt, it is good that there is no 't' in front of the subject (its) being discussed or we would have more traffic than required

phongtt · May 2013

8-X 8-X 8-X

Platypus · May 2013

@PhongTT and @OZApps,
Ha, ha.

) Nice.

[I]t seems to me that if someone can't pay attention to detail in the way they write (or speak) then they may not be able to do so in the rest of their work either.

Exactly. If y'wanna be a professional, y'gotta be professional.

SinisterSoft · May 2013

@OZApps - Actually English English is the only English that actually has no official grammar rules. It constantly evolves - what is currently the norm becomes the correct form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputes_in_English_grammar

Other variations on English - such as American English actually have written down rules, but not ours...

OZApps · May 2013

A bit surprised because all of the Grammar that we were forced to learn was from the British influence not the American influence. English in America and Australia was not as pure or cultured for reasons quite obvious. Still the thing that really surprises me is the use of me instead of my in UK, as in "this is me mom's cooking".

Today English in any part of the world has become degraded or amalgamated with other local languages to form a new hybrid. It is funny to note that it is still widely used as the business language and is still popular despite all of the things around it that dilute the essence of the language.

I guess you have a point in the fact of adding new words to the English language, a lot of words in the English language come from the influence of the times, like at one point it was India and now technology and trends dictate the new words.

SinisterSoft · May 2013

In the north(west) England it could be "this is mi mum's cookin'" or "this is mi mam's cookin'"

It's because there is no official body or official written down 'standard' for English English that it evolves so rapidly. As far as I know it's the only version of English that hasn't been standardized.

OZApps · May 2013

BTW, if the conversation did add a T to the topic and the topic of discussion was tits and before everyone rushes to censor it because it would be unsafe/unsuitable then let me say that a 'tit' or 'tits' is a family safe word as it refers to a small bird (stop sniggering while reading) that is also called a chickadee or titmice or just tits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_(bird)

Another that I recollect from long ago, a dirty four letter word ending in k, ***K, now I am sure of what comes to your mind in the first instance, but let's see what are the other variations that you can come up with (not after consulting the dictionary)

Platypus · May 2013

Now you've done it.

Greetings, late-night web surfers. This is not the page you were looking for.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

OZApps · April 2014

WORK, something that all of us late at night with GiderosSDK

worK <----

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