• ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
    51·
    20 days ago

    This is the grammar thing I fuck up the most, and I don’t call people on it because I’m pretty sure I don’t know how it works. Autocorrect changes it & I just say “oh, whoops”, and it still looks wrong…

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
      13·
      20 days ago

      it’s means “it is”. It is really not difficult, just pretend you are Data and swear off contractions.

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
        1·
        20 days ago

        I think the contraction vs possesive thing messes with me, and my brain can never settle on what goes where when, how, or why…

        • amelia@feddit.org
          7·
          20 days ago

          Just try changing it to “it is”. If the sentence still makes sense, it’s “it’s”. Otherwise it’s “its”.

    • everett@lemmy.ml
      6·
      19 days ago

      Here’s a shortcut: test if you could drop “his” into the same spot and have it make sense. (And of course you’d never write hi’s or his’s.) If “his” would work, “its” would work.

    • wols@lemmy.zip
      1·
      20 days ago

      My keyboard is very keen on completing “it’s” regardless of context. I imagine this is the case for most people, since usually I see “it’s” when “its” would be correct.

      I also think it’s difficult to know that “it’s” is wrong to use because it feels like it follows the common apostrophe for possession rule:
      “Australia’s capital is Canberra” -> “Australia is the largest country in Oceania. It’s capital is Canberra.” (wrong, but intuitive)