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Comment by cpeterso | Hacker News Reader

I used to be a grammar nazi, but now I accept that we are witnessing hyper-evolution of written language. Before the internet, I didn't realize how pervasively people confused its/it's and lose/loose. (I knew there/their/they're was a common problem.)

I previously assumed languages typically evolved through "erosion" by dropping letters or spaces as a matter of saving time or space. But in today's computerized world, time and space are cheaper, so grammar exceptions seem to what is eroding: its/it's is an apparent punctuation exception and lose/loose is a pronunciation exception.

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I am not a native English speaker, but I'm constantly dumbfounded as to why anyone would even entertain the idea that "its/it's" are in any way similar. When you substitute one with another, the sentence just does not parse. It stops making sense.

By conflating "its" and "it's", you are overloading the meaning of "its", making the language more ambiguous.

Perhaps this also has to do with me being accustomed to more formal (programming) languages.

The reason it's confusing is that 's after a personal pronoun usually indicates possession, whereas this is the opposite for it's/its, so in that sense it's an exception to a rule, which people have a hard time remembering.

What personal pronouns have 's for the possesive form? Mine's? Your's? Hi's? Her's? Their's?

Ah, you found the rule for when you don't use it. Contrary to many textbooks, teachers, and websites, the lack of an apostrophe in "its" is not an exception--you don't use the apostrophe for pronouns. "His". "Hers". "Yours". As apposed to "Jack's", "Julie's", "the user's".

"opposed".

Normally I wouldn't correct you, but this being the grammar nazi thread and all...

"Its" is only used in places where "his", "her", and "your", which don't have the s's, are used. People don't use "its" in places where they'd use "hers" or "yours". It's awkward.

That's a better example. My explanation was wrong, but it's still an exception in the context you provide.

Bob's house. The mayor's key. The people's choice.

Those are nouns, not pronouns.

Sorry, I used the wrong terminology.

its/it's, they're/their, and you're/your are easy to remember: Possessive pronouns never have apostrophes.

Except for one.

Hm, well I guess there's always one exception :)

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