Week 1- Helpful Information-Using " 's " in your Writing
There's this book entitled The Elements of Style that was written by William Strunk Jr., which contains 95 pages of helpful tips to improve your writing. Mr. Strunk just happened to teach a very famous writer by the name of E. B. White, author of Charlotte's Web.
I have the fourth edition of the book, which has both their names on it. Historically, E.B. White was hired to do revisions to the book. The proper use of " 's " is a topic discussed in Chapter I.
Many people while writing mistakenly use "it's" for "its". The first term is actually a contraction, a shortened form of a group of words, in this case meaning "it is". The word "its" is a possessive. With nouns or pronouns, words like its, ours, mine or Steven's indicate ownership or possession.
There can be some confusion though when writers use contractions as well as nouns to show possession. In many cases both require the use of an " 's". So if you are planning to write a sentence and your intention is to say "...it is ...", go ahead and shorten it to it's, but not its. If you intend to show possession, that something belongs to a person, go ahead and use "Steven's bike", not Stevens bike.
Also, it is or it's okay to write Charles's coat or Stevens's essays. I know it might look a bit funny, but it is the right way to write it. There are a few exceptions though like ancient proper names ending in -es or -is like Jesus' or Iris' temple. Possessive pronouns like hers, its, theirs, yours, and ours have no apostrophe to show possession.
I like the below example using both terms from the book for further clarification:
It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.
I hope this post helps writers understand the differences.
Ken
I have the fourth edition of the book, which has both their names on it. Historically, E.B. White was hired to do revisions to the book. The proper use of " 's " is a topic discussed in Chapter I.
Many people while writing mistakenly use "it's" for "its". The first term is actually a contraction, a shortened form of a group of words, in this case meaning "it is". The word "its" is a possessive. With nouns or pronouns, words like its, ours, mine or Steven's indicate ownership or possession.
There can be some confusion though when writers use contractions as well as nouns to show possession. In many cases both require the use of an " 's". So if you are planning to write a sentence and your intention is to say "...it is ...", go ahead and shorten it to it's, but not its. If you intend to show possession, that something belongs to a person, go ahead and use "Steven's bike", not Stevens bike.
Also, it is or it's okay to write Charles's coat or Stevens's essays. I know it might look a bit funny, but it is the right way to write it. There are a few exceptions though like ancient proper names ending in -es or -is like Jesus' or Iris' temple. Possessive pronouns like hers, its, theirs, yours, and ours have no apostrophe to show possession.
I like the below example using both terms from the book for further clarification:
It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.
I hope this post helps writers understand the differences.
Ken
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