Nancy Young wrote:

>
> "Blinky the Shark" > wrote
>
>> Nancy Young wrote:
>>
>>
>>> "Blinky the Shark" > wrote
>>>
>>>> Nancy Young wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> "Blinky the Shark" > wrote
>>>>>
>>>>>> Nancy Young wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have its it's issues. I can't get it that the possessive doesn't
>>>>>>> have an apostrophe. Why???? Heh.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Do these *other* possessive pronouns have an apostrophe?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> hers
>>>>>> theirs
>>>>>> yours
>>>>>> ours
>>>>>>
>>>>>> No.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Its" isn't even an exception; it illustrates the *norm*.
>>>>>
>>>>> Do you say hers hats? Hers rock?
>>>>
>>>> Uh. Of course not. But thanks for playing.
>>>
>>> Okay, I'm talking about when you'd say its hat. Its foot. That's when
>>> I want that apostrophe in there.
>>
>> Well, if you want to do it correctly, stop wanting that. That's
>> exactly what I was illustrating with the list I showed -- that adding an
>> "s" to a pronoun doesn't mean you have to insert an "apostrophe". It's
>> no more necessary there than when you add an "s" to make a plural.
>> Lions and tigers and bears identify a group of animals; "lion's and
>> tiger's and bear's" doesn't. We must stamp out this knee-jerk obsession
>> for inserting apostrophes as if they are somehow needed to warn the
>> reader that there is an "s" coming. Esses are not dangerous; the reader
>> does not need to be warned that he's about to see one.
>
> I don't always want to add the apostrophe, I am *not* the cause of the
> apostrophe shortage. You will have to blame someone else for that.

I blame it on linguistic warming.

> I'm only talking about when I would say Nancy's car. The woman's scarf.

Correct and correct, of course.

> It's feet. My right pinky wants to put that apostrophe only in cases
> like that.

Off with its head! It's the only fix.


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