Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: markus.widmer@******.at (Markus Widmer)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 11:09:06 +0200
OR it can indicate a possessive. Such as "Bob's" or "Adam's" or
> > "Graht's" or "It's". In the case above, "it's" is
a
> > possessive form of it.
> > It refers to the magical healing, possessing the successes.
> > So the sentence
> > is correct as it stands.
> >
>
> Nice English lesson :) Unfortunately you got one thing wrong. The
> possessive form of "it" is an exception to the rule and is written
without
> the apostrophe: "its".


Actually, "its" is a possessive pronoun, and the rule "possessive s
with apostrophe" only applies to nouns. It isn't "he's" but
"his", and
"her" not "she's". End of lesson.
Message no. 2
From: SteveG@***********.co.za (Steve Garrard)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical heali ng)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 11:32:21 +0200
Markus Widmer wrote:
> [snip]
>
> Actually, "its" is a possessive pronoun, and the rule "possessive s
> with apostrophe" only applies to nouns. It isn't "he's" but
"his", and
> "her" not "she's". End of lesson.
>

Thanks. My bad. My apologies to whoever the original poster was (I can't
remember anymore). If I'd known everyone on the list was gonna correct you,
I would've saved you mine at least :\


Slayer

"Beware my wrath, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
- Unknown Dragon


**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.

www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************
Message no. 3
From: The_Sarge@***.de (MatthÀus_Cebulla)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 18:21:33 +0200
> Le 11:09 27/08/2003, Markus Widmer écrivait :
> >Actually, "its" is a possessive pronoun, and the rule "possessive
s
> >with apostrophe" only applies to nouns. It isn't "he's" but
"his", and
> >"her" not "she's". End of lesson.
>
> Do not forget that some of us are not native speaking in english.

Here! *g*
But even I cought that.

"It's" and "its" are being beaten down your throat during school in
germany.
Along with things like "their" and "they're". It's amazing, how many
people
_from english speaking countries_ make this mistake. My teacher would
have killed me for this!

Somehow this errors only crop up with primary anglophonics.
Do you have any theories on this?


And, to the discussion at hand:

http://www.angryflower.com/itsits.gif *with a grin*

(Erm.. No offense, ok?)

Matthäus Cebulla
Message no. 4
From: jdefazio@***.rr.com (Emily DeFazio)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 11:37:23 -0500
<feels like she's back in primary school, and is wondering when the ruler
will crack on someone's knuckles, ducks her head to stay out of the
Teacher's sights>
Wow, seems like we English speakers get lazy, doesn't it? <grin>

Why English? Because it doen't even make sense to those of us born to it. We
spend our lives trying to figure out what we're saying and how to spell
it... that's my 2 cents, anyway. I think I prefer the Romance languages for
clarity, even if the sentances are all out of order :)
(no offense meant to anyone who speaks Romance Languages, I realize that
English is out of order to you too)

ED
***loved English in school, hated Grammer***
Message no. 5
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 19:10:42 +0200
According to Emily DeFazio, on Wednesday 27 August 2003 18:37 the word on
the street was...

> Why English? Because it doen't even make sense to those of us born to
> it. We spend our lives trying to figure out what we're saying and how to
> spell it...

Probably because someone, sometime (my guess is in that *&%^ing 19th
century :) decided that written English should have as few homonyms as
possible...

> that's my 2 cents, anyway. I think I prefer the Romance
> languages for clarity, even if the sentances are all out of order :)
> (no offense meant to anyone who speaks Romance Languages, I realize that
> English is out of order to you too)

Yeah, but who cares what they think? :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Don't you know you know what's right?
-> Probably NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ P(+) L++ E W--(++) N o? K w(--)
O V? PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D+ G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 6
From: iridios@********.net (Iridios)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 20:11:46 -0400
Nightwinder wrote:
>
>> Somehow this errors only crop up with primary anglophonics.
>> Do you have any theories on this?
>
>
> Because we're all slack bastards who can't be bothered to learn our own
> language properly? You'd be surprised how many people with English as
> their main language have trouble speaking it, let alone writing it.
>
>

Arrggghhh!!!! I make one simple transcription error and the rest of
you people go bonkers! Tis simple. It's = it is. Its = it
(possessive) Perhaps instead of "it's" we should all start using
"tis", which should actually be punctuated as " 'Tis".

--
Iridios / http://iridios.bravepages.com

Top ten reasons to visit my new site:
2. Because I've run out of reasons.
------------------------------------------------------
GCC0.3: y69>?.us[PA] G89 SCP/F/PA:@@[SR] B+>++ f@*
RR rm= rr+ l- m=>- w--->= s=>*:= GM+:+(=):=[PF] hp!>+ LA= mf+ W+ C--(+) CG-
OG+ F= c->= K=(?)
------------------------------------------------------
This email has been verified by no one.
8/27/03
Message no. 7
From: docwagon101@*****.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 13:23:35 +0100 (BST)
> Here! *g*
> But even I cought that.

Seeing as we're talking about spelling..."caught".

;)

> "It's" and "its" are being beaten down your throat
during school in germany. Along with things like
"their" and "they're". It's amazing, how many people
_from english speaking countries_ make this mistake.
My teacher would have killed me for this!
>
> Somehow this errors only crop up with primary
anglophonics. Do you have any theories on this?
> Matthäus Cebulla

We're lazy bastards.

...it's a theory, okay?

Really, though, I think that's got something to do
with it. Many people who make such mistakes just can't
be bothered spelling correctly, or didn't pay
attention in school, or simply didn't have correct
punctuation, spelling and grammar drummed into them
sufficiently in school.

Think about it - compare your classes in German and
your classes in English. Were your German teachers
really as pedantic about the minutiae as your English
teachers? Maybe they were, I don't know, but I think
you'll find that they're not over here. The fact is,
when you learn a different language in an
English-speaking nation (okay, I should qualify that -
in those Australian schools I attended - I don't know
if it's like this in all schools, but I think we can
extrapolate) you spend your entire time learning the
language. When you do "English", on the other hand,
you only spend serious time studying the basics in the
first couple of years - and even then, most of your
time is spent studying literature, not the language
itself. That's the main cause, I'd say.

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what the DOC' is COOKING!!!

________________________________________________________________________
Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo!
Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
Message no. 8
From: frontendchaos@**********.com (Jim Montgomery)
Subject: [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing)
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 09:27:26 -0400
> We're lazy bastards.
>
> ...it's a theory, okay?
>
> Really, though, I think that's got something to do
> with it. Many people who make such mistakes just can't
> be bothered spelling correctly, or didn't pay
> attention in school, or simply didn't have correct
> punctuation, spelling and grammar drummed into them
> sufficiently in school.

I actually think it has to do with the fact that in non-technical
writing, we have a habit of writing casually or conversationally. We
don't make the mistake of "it's" vs "its" when we speak, because the
distinction doesn't exist; the words are homonyms (sound the same, mean
different, right?). So when we write, the distinction isn't relevant in
the forefront of our minds. If someone writes something to the president
of the Sci-Fi Channel to save Farscape, they're very conscious of their
verbiage, and might very well catch this kind of thing. But in a piece
of intro fiction that says "We sent the devil rat running with it's tail
between it's legs" the proofers read that, and it "sounds" right, so it
slips through.

Personally whenever I write "it's" I replace it in my head with "it
is";
if it doesn't work, I pull the apostrophe out. In other words, I proof
it conversationally ("how would this sound?"), not via grammar rules
("possessive pronouns don't have apostrophes"). And if I don't
consciously do this, I screw it up every once in a while (I guess you
could call that mental laziness). Interestingly, most people don't have
as much problem with "their" and "they're", but I guess I mentally
proof
these the same way.

I don't think laziness is a huge part of it, though their is some
ignorance involved. (hehe =P)

Jim

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about [OT] The English Language (was: Re: biotech and magical healing), you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!