Tuesday, July 26, 2011

It IS a Big Deal (for a few of us)

Once again the headline blares with the incorrect usage of its. It's so easy to remember that it's ALWAYS means it is because it's a contraction, a combination of ... it + is.

If you mean "belongs to it," use its: dog bites its own butt, not the butt of another dog.

On the other hand, if you refer to people, use his/hers/theirs, not its, as in "Each camper will carry his/her own duffle bag." No, we don't say "Each camper will carry their own duffle bag" because each implies the word one, as in "Each one [of the campers] will carry," which makes each singular, not plural. Thus, if you want to avoid the his/her sentence construction, simply rewrite the sentence: "All campers will carry their own duffle bags."

Finally, there are personal pronouns to refer to people, such as "He is the one who," my favorite writing goof from people who should know better but use that instead of who.

People make mistakes when they try to sound more correct, more well-educated. "Keep it simple" is a good writing guideline.

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