alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe

Ben Finney bignose+hates-spam at benfinney.id.au
Mon Dec 15 02:55:55 EST 2008


James Stroud <jstroud at mbi.ucla.edu> writes:

> Ben Finney wrote:
> > James Stroud <jstroud at mbi.ucla.edu> writes:
> >
> >> Yes. I think it was the British who decided that the apostrophe
> >> rule for "it" would be reversed from normal usage relative to
> >> just about every other noun.

It also seems an indefensible claim to say that anyone “decided” it
would be that way, especially “the British”.

> > Remember that “it” is a pronoun. I see no reversal:
> 
> Ok. Pronouns are reversed.

Or, more generally: Pronouns, which are different in just about every
other way from other nouns, are different in this way also. Is that
about right?

-- 
 \       “I met my girlfriend in Macy's; she was buying clothes, and I |
  `\           was putting Slinkies on the escalators.” —Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney



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