# Its/It's and There/Their/They're **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248 "2006-12-22T17:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/21 "2006-12-22T20:55:03Z")
10/10. But of course. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/22 "2006-12-22T21:03:02Z")
10/10, and there’s no excuse for missing any of the its/it’s questions. If it wouldn’t make sense with “it is” in the blank, then it’s its. 😛 #4 did give me pause too until I applied the above rule. I would probably personally say “His fear of it being a very long season seemed contagious.” It may not be precisely grammatical according to the more arcane style guides, but it sounds right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/23 "2006-12-22T21:09:04Z")
10/10. Very easy. But then I’m bothered by the misuse of those words. ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef_1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/24 "2006-12-22T21:53:27Z")
That was fun. I haven’t taken a 3rd grade grammar quiz in eons. And by eons, I actually mean eons. 10/10. Got any 4th grade quizzes? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/25 "2006-12-22T22:16:12Z")
Heh: “He made reference to [who/whom] the culprit was.” 😛 One thing that throws people off is that traditionally, there is one instance where the apostrophe with S is used to form the plural: letters, numbers, and short words referenced as themselves. “He got four A’s and a B that semester.” This has always been regarded as correct. In certain instances, it’s still the preferred usage: I’s, A’s, M’s and As’s are used to distinguish more than one I, A, M, or As to avoid the confusion created by Is, As, Ms, and Ass. And one petty rant: For some reason, GD has had several recent references to “heroine addicts.” While I agree that the habit of constantly reading romance novels is a terrible waste of a good mind, I hardly think it qualifies as an addiction. On the other hand, the morphine derivative that is famously addictive has no final -e. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/26 "2006-12-22T22:31:55Z")
Results: 10 Correct – 0 Wrong – 0 Skipped But I fear my results on a who/whom, and a that/which quiz. _Hopefully I will never have to see the usage of the commonly misspelled “noone” in place of “no one” ever again!_ I always think “Peter Noone?” ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/27 "2006-12-22T23:11:52Z")
10/10 “0 skipped” I should hope not! ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/28 "2006-12-22T23:17:26Z")
10/10, I had to read #4 twice, but if you put ‘it is’ into the blank, it makes even less sense than ‘its’. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/29 "2006-12-22T23:18:24Z")
10/10. Well, this is what I teach for a living, so I’d better get it right! My college students can’t seem to grasp it, though. Maybe I should give them this quiz. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/30 "2006-12-22T23:20:01Z")
10/10, but I misuse these all the time posting here and elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/31 "2006-12-22T23:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] One thing that throws people off is that traditionally, there is one instance where the apostrophe with S is used to form the plural: letters, numbers, and short words referenced as themselves. “He got four A’s and a B that semester.” This has always been regarded as correct. In certain instances, it’s still the preferred usage: I’s, A’s, M’s and As’s are used to distinguish more than one I, A, M, or As to avoid the confusion created by Is, As, Ms, and Ass. [/QUOTE] This is a personal peeve of mine. I refuse to use apostrophes with letters or numbers: “the 90s” looks far better to me than “the 90’s”. I accept that there are arguments for both sides, so it’s not a strong irritation. Then again, I am the proofreader, so my word is law at the office. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/32 "2006-12-22T23:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=BayleDomon] This is a personal peeve of mine. I refuse to use apostrophes with letters or numbers: “the 90s” looks far better to me than “the 90’s”. I accept that there are arguments for both sides, so it’s not a strong irritation. Then again, I am the proofreader, so my word is law at the office. 😃 [/QUOTE] I tend to prefer the no-apostrophe method of referring to numeric values in the plural because you _can_ use the possessive in certain contexts, such as when referring to a subject by its number. (“After all of the experiments were done, test subject number 36’s results were the most promising.”) It’s possible to rearrange the sentence to remove the need (“After all of the experiments were done, test subject number 36 showed the most promising results.”) but as both sentences are technically correct it shows that there is a decent reason for applying the same plural/possessive rules to numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/33 "2006-12-22T23:49:29Z")
10/10. Umm… was that supposed to be difficult? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/34 "2006-12-23T00:37:54Z")
Also 10/10. Yawn. Its a good thing there questions wernt to hard. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/35 "2006-12-23T00:39:24Z")
It shouldn’t be hard to get at least eight of them right, but as I said earlier, a good number of college students would get most of these wrong. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/36 "2006-12-23T00:58:05Z")
[QUOTE=BayleDomon] …“the 90s” looks far better to me than “the 90’s”… [/QUOTE] Actually, what’s correct there is “the '90s,” since the apostrophe replaces the elided “19.” ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/37 "2006-12-23T00:58:12Z")
I would have killed myself if I had not gotten 10/10 after trying to tell so many Dopers that it’s its, not it’s. Even tonight, I see the below posting (not “I seen” - the past tense of see is saw, not seen - another frequent _paux fas_). “ **What do we care if China “manipulates” it’s money?** According to Pliny” 12/22/06" She must have been pulling my/our leg(s). ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/38 "2006-12-23T01:16:41Z")
Blurnk. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/39 "2006-12-23T01:43:46Z")
> [@](#): > > **BayleDomon** : I would probably personally say “His fear of it being a very long season seemed contagious.” It may not be precisely grammatical according to the more arcane style guides, but it sounds right to me. Wouldn’t it be easy if we could all go with the answer that just sounds right to us? The sentence in question is: “His fear of ( it’s, its ) being a very long season seemed contagious.” _Being_ is a gerund and requires the use of a possessive pronoun. In this case that would be **its**. Other examples: His pacing got on my nerves. (_Pacing_ is a gerund; _his_ is a possessive pronoun.) I can hear your whimpering over the sound of the jackhammer. (_Whimpering_ is a gerund; _your_ is a possessive pronoun.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248/40 "2006-12-23T02:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Wouldn’t it be easy if we could all go with the answer that just sounds right to us? [/QUOTE] You’re talking to a linguist. It _is_ that easy. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-its-and-there-their-theyre/385248.md?page=3)