There are TWO rules, in direct contradiction. It is consequently impossible to be "right;" being "not wrong" is the only option, and inconsistency is a poor start toward that goal. One of the two rules is unique, arbitrary, unnecessary and confusing, hence I find those same objections to my habit unconvincing reasons to abandon it. The principal differences between that rule and my usage is that the latter is 1) consistent and uniform but 2) less popular. That alone is a rather weak claim to orthodoxy, particular at the expense of clarity and functionality.
There are at least 3, surely. But they don't contradict each other because they apply to different sets of words. There's a rule for the set of words you make possessive using " 's ", there's a rule for the set of words you make possessive using just the "s" with no apostrophe, and there's a rule for the treatment of "its" and "it's".
tl;dr, you're still wrong
If you are from Betelgeuse, please have one of your Earth friends read what I've written before you respond. Or try concentrating harder.
"The trophy problem has become extreme."
"The trophy problem has become extreme."
Grammar junkies
- 05/10/2011 06:46:31 PM
1112 Views
I'm not always sure that I'm correct, but....
- 05/10/2011 07:04:13 PM
807 Views
I didn't see any errors 
- 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM
792 Views
- 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM
792 Views
Must ... have ... grammar.
- 05/10/2011 07:53:34 PM
987 Views
For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight.
- 05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM
1265 Views
Tom can probably give you actual terms and correct rules, but here's my take on it.
- 05/10/2011 08:43:47 PM
757 Views
Er...yes I meant them as a singular idea... *NM*
- 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM
462 Views
*NM*
- 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM
462 Views
Use them together, and only together, for fifteen years and we can discuss this again. *NM*
- 05/10/2011 09:32:30 PM
397 Views
That makes sense as far as it goes.
- 05/10/2011 09:02:42 PM
793 Views
But do you actually regard them that way?
- 05/10/2011 09:08:36 PM
779 Views
Yeah, pretty much.
- 05/10/2011 09:25:18 PM
738 Views
No, Joel. You're just wrong. Again. Get used to it. We have. 
- 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM
680 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM
680 Views
I can live with being wrong, at least in the sense of technical error.
- 05/10/2011 10:06:30 PM
780 Views
Let's just pare this down to the bare bones.
- 06/10/2011 01:37:30 AM
639 Views
He made a mistake that I did not recognize as a mistake because I read his words as he intended.
- 06/10/2011 04:43:39 AM
789 Views
You bring up a point that I was researching the other day
- 05/10/2011 08:53:40 PM
831 Views
You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. 
- 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM
784 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM
784 Views
You're right of course!
- 05/10/2011 09:13:44 PM
854 Views
I frequently am.
- 05/10/2011 09:16:38 PM
856 Views
So I've noticed.
- 05/10/2011 09:19:38 PM
770 Views
Achtung! Grammatik! :insert Nazi-saluting smiley as the Wehrmacht marches by:
- 05/10/2011 08:10:45 PM
884 Views
Good poll, especially for this site.
- 05/10/2011 08:11:10 PM
892 Views
Re: Grammar junkies
- 05/10/2011 08:33:06 PM
785 Views
People should talk in a way that can be understood, else they are not communicating.
- 05/10/2011 09:17:37 PM
830 Views
Re: "everyone's". ~winky~ *NM*
- 05/10/2011 09:22:18 PM
382 Views
Is it time for my lecture on superfluous apostrophes again?
- 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM
739 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM
739 Views
Unsurprisingly, I don't really agree with you at all on this point. :p
- 05/10/2011 10:29:59 PM
821 Views
I do not really think I am "right" on this one so much as "not wrong."
- 06/10/2011 12:01:36 AM
744 Views
But contradictions are inherent in the entire English language!
- 06/10/2011 01:25:39 AM
741 Views
Ghoti. Also, this is why Rebekah and don't argue this any more. *NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM
344 Views
*NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM
344 Views
Sure, but not deliberate ones created by grammarians who know better.
- 06/10/2011 05:40:58 AM
746 Views
I'm going to listen to the others.
- 06/10/2011 06:17:18 AM
754 Views
Like I say, I appreciate exceptions when justified (and again, only claiming to be "not wrong." )
- 06/10/2011 07:26:18 AM
648 Views
But you are wrong
- 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM
779 Views
- 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM
779 Views
I disagree.
- 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM
722 Views
- 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM
722 Views
How utterly unsurprising 
- 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM
691 Views
- 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM
691 Views
"We want to be nothing if not persistent."
- 07/10/2011 02:39:19 PM
749 Views
Doesn't matter.
- 07/10/2011 03:12:14 PM
763 Views
Perhaps not, but it should, and I am not above being a lone voice crying in the wilderness.
- 08/10/2011 05:17:35 PM
848 Views
What.
- 06/10/2011 06:17:41 PM
827 Views
Those cases are not the same, because those words are already possessive in their own right.
- 06/10/2011 10:52:06 PM
816 Views
if you have trouble understanding my post it is more likely do to typing skills than grammar
- 05/10/2011 09:31:42 PM
737 Views
Likely so; I have the same problem, but usually when writing by hand.
- 05/10/2011 09:53:08 PM
712 Views
#1) I do not use NetSpeak while playing games, texting or using social media.
- 05/10/2011 11:34:12 PM
729 Views
What about NateSpeak? *NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:01:08 PM
356 Views
I did use that once to tell the story of you and CNRedDragon going to see Ice Princess. *NM*
- 07/10/2011 01:46:50 AM
366 Views
I freebase split infinitives on a regular basis.
- 06/10/2011 01:53:36 PM
653 Views