Can anyone tell me? Just about no one on this board seems to have a clue.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

'tis difficult.

Addict, even those of us who are well-schooled in the world of grammar make that slip sometimes. I'm a summa cum laude English major and I actually did it in a published article recently (SO embarassing, and it was otherwise one of my best articles, too ).

We're so programmed at a young age to use the apostrophe as a signal of possession that it's almost impossible to break for the its/it's exception.

My pet peeve, though it when people use improper pronoun/noun agreement ... e.g. "Every child must pick up their bag" or "the team won their fifth game."

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I don't think I've made that particular error, but I often use "their" when I should use "there", and vice versa. It's an odd thing that I can't explain.

The team won its fifth game.

It's going to be a difficult fifth game.


Easy to figure out:

Substitute "It is". If it makes sense, then use "it's".

Yep, the 'It is' is a good test.

I think one of the problems with the the 'Every child. . .' example is that it forces a person to make a gender distinction so the proper form becomes 'his or her' which seems more awkward than 'their'.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

it's = it is

All other times use "its."

Treat "its" as a substitute for a possesive pronoun. For example:

The diesel threw a rod yesterday. Some say its time had come. Just do the "It is" test. If you cannot substitute "it is" for 'its" then "its" is correct.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Yup, or you can think of the words "his" and "hers". We don't write "her's" or "his's", do we? But I see "it's" used instead of "its" all the time for some reason. I've even run into one person who put an apostrophe in front of every freaking 's'. It was very difficult to read. Some people are just obsessed with the apostrophe. At one of the local Wal-mart customer service counters I saw a sign that said "NO RETURN'S ON BICYCLES". Well I guess we all know why the person who wrote that works at Wal-mart.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif
http://angryflower.com/destro.html

. . . the gender distinction, that is. "His" is perfectly acceptable -- it covers both genders -- and has been solid usage for hundreds of years.

If you have more than one sentence in your piece with such a construction, you could always alternate "his" with "her," as long as the context supports it. By which I mean, if you're talking about testicles or something exclusively male, it would be pretty silly to use "her."

It's time we stopped being politically correct, especially when it comes to ruining our language.

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* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

That's a British thing. If you listen to English sportscasters they often refer to a specific team using "they" and "them."

All this even after Russel's theory of definite descriptions which argues that a noun phrase such as like this: "The King of France" picks out a particular entity.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

One of my peeves is similar: "The data shows that you're right."

One of mine: Substituting "healthy" for "healthful", something done more often than not.

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."

I do!

I know it can't be me my spelling is absolutily perfect. The perfection of my grammer is simply stunning, yes bow down to me the grammer God!!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Also the word "irregardless" needs to die.

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL