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
1143 Views
I'm not always sure that I'm correct, but....
- 05/10/2011 07:04:13 PM
838 Views
I didn't see any errors 
- 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM
823 Views
- 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM
823 Views
Must ... have ... grammar.
- 05/10/2011 07:53:34 PM
1016 Views
For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight.
- 05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM
1301 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
789 Views
Er...yes I meant them as a singular idea... *NM*
- 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM
474 Views
*NM*
- 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM
474 Views
Use them together, and only together, for fifteen years and we can discuss this again. *NM*
- 05/10/2011 09:32:30 PM
406 Views
That makes sense as far as it goes.
- 05/10/2011 09:02:42 PM
825 Views
But do you actually regard them that way?
- 05/10/2011 09:08:36 PM
808 Views
Yeah, pretty much.
- 05/10/2011 09:25:18 PM
769 Views
No, Joel. You're just wrong. Again. Get used to it. We have. 
- 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM
706 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM
706 Views
I can live with being wrong, at least in the sense of technical error.
- 05/10/2011 10:06:30 PM
815 Views
Let's just pare this down to the bare bones.
- 06/10/2011 01:37:30 AM
662 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
816 Views
You bring up a point that I was researching the other day
- 05/10/2011 08:53:40 PM
860 Views
You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. 
- 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM
820 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM
820 Views
You're right of course!
- 05/10/2011 09:13:44 PM
885 Views
I frequently am.
- 05/10/2011 09:16:38 PM
894 Views
So I've noticed.
- 05/10/2011 09:19:38 PM
805 Views
Achtung! Grammatik! :insert Nazi-saluting smiley as the Wehrmacht marches by:
- 05/10/2011 08:10:45 PM
916 Views
Good poll, especially for this site.
- 05/10/2011 08:11:10 PM
926 Views
Re: Grammar junkies
- 05/10/2011 08:33:06 PM
817 Views
People should talk in a way that can be understood, else they are not communicating.
- 05/10/2011 09:17:37 PM
866 Views
Re: "everyone's". ~winky~ *NM*
- 05/10/2011 09:22:18 PM
399 Views
Is it time for my lecture on superfluous apostrophes again?
- 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM
775 Views
- 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM
775 Views
Unsurprisingly, I don't really agree with you at all on this point. :p
- 05/10/2011 10:29:59 PM
861 Views
I do not really think I am "right" on this one so much as "not wrong."
- 06/10/2011 12:01:36 AM
780 Views
But contradictions are inherent in the entire English language!
- 06/10/2011 01:25:39 AM
767 Views
Ghoti. Also, this is why Rebekah and don't argue this any more. *NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM
359 Views
*NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM
359 Views
Sure, but not deliberate ones created by grammarians who know better.
- 06/10/2011 05:40:58 AM
780 Views
I'm going to listen to the others.
- 06/10/2011 06:17:18 AM
788 Views
Like I say, I appreciate exceptions when justified (and again, only claiming to be "not wrong." )
- 06/10/2011 07:26:18 AM
679 Views
But you are wrong
- 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM
815 Views
- 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM
815 Views
I disagree.
- 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM
758 Views
- 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM
758 Views
How utterly unsurprising 
- 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM
737 Views
- 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM
737 Views
"We want to be nothing if not persistent."
- 07/10/2011 02:39:19 PM
786 Views
Doesn't matter.
- 07/10/2011 03:12:14 PM
796 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
882 Views
What.
- 06/10/2011 06:17:41 PM
864 Views
Those cases are not the same, because those words are already possessive in their own right.
- 06/10/2011 10:52:06 PM
851 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
766 Views
Likely so; I have the same problem, but usually when writing by hand.
- 05/10/2011 09:53:08 PM
741 Views
#1) I do not use NetSpeak while playing games, texting or using social media.
- 05/10/2011 11:34:12 PM
754 Views
What about NateSpeak? *NM*
- 06/10/2011 04:01:08 PM
368 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
389 Views
I freebase split infinitives on a regular basis.
- 06/10/2011 01:53:36 PM
685 Views