• huppakee@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 天前

    I’m not natively English but isn’t that always when you could read it wrong without the apostrophe? E.g. it’s zoos and bows, but not hos?

    Edit: this example doesn’t really do much, since you could argue about it’s ho’s nazi or a nazi’s ho, and hoes is probably more correct anyway. I retract myself from this discussion.

    • Ekky@sopuli.xyz
      3·
      4 天前

      Not native either, but pretty sure apostrophe-s is about ownership whereas just s is about plural. eg.:

      “It’s a dog’s bark.”

      “The dogs are barking.”

      • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
        2·
        4 天前

        “Its” vs “it’s” is probably the most common mistake in the English language. Apostrophe is used for ownership as well as contraction, BUT contraction supersedes ownership. So its means ownership and it’s means it is.

    • Slatlun@lemmy.ml
      2·
      4 天前

      Not quite. No apostrophe usually means plural. With apostrophe means possessive or a contraction (what is to what’s). Its/it’s is an edge case where the possessive “its” has no apostrophe and contraction “it’s” does.

      All that being said, native speakers mistype all of these all of the time, so you don’t have to worry about it for casual conversation.

    • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
      2·
      4 天前

      Nah, but that is how some people view and use it. It doesn’t bother me personally if it seems intentional to quicken clarity. It at least makes more sense to me than possession on a name ending in ‘s’, E.G. Bernie Sanders’ policies. It breaks down further if the Sanders had a family reunion, what is the Sanderses’? Sanders’? preference for food?

      • huppakee@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 天前

        Afaik it’s not just how people use it but what has been agreed upon by the respective rulemakers. I was just commenting on whether it’s appropriate though, completely agree it’s arbitrary and imperfect.

        • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
          1·
          4 天前

          Gotcha and I agree about it being as clear as mud. Also your English is amazing. Like better than most native speakers