I've been wanting to diary about this for a long time.
No, it's not the most significant issue in the world, it doesn't even come close.
But, as Hunter would put it, sweet merciful crap: when are people gonna get straight the difference between IT'S and ITS?
And behold, for MetaJesus is righteous with anger, and will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and fuuuuurious anger, all those who would say, "The cat put on IT'S hat."
More apoplexy on the flip.
Look, I know this is annoying. It's not even like I can spell properly most of the time. I'm not even particularly sure that I spelled "vengeance" properly. I probably don't have any right to get up on this particular high horse.
All I know is that I will almost certainly have a massive bovine mammal the next time I witness this unbelievably annoying misuse of "its" and "it's."
I suppose it wouldn't be so if I didn't have forty papers to grade this weekend, all written by sophomore, junior, and senior college students, who have managed to get through their 2, 3, and God help us, 4 years of university without having gotten it straight.
So, a quick primer:
IT'S: a contraction of "it is." As in, "It's funny how unbelievably anal retentive this guy Dale is getting about this it's/its business."
ITS: the possessive form of "it." As in, "The Republican party has its collective head planted firmly up its own posterior."
When I hand back essays -- often thoughtful, intelligent essays by students with a lot to say -- I invariably go into this almost trancelike state of frothing rage while ranting for altogether too long on the subject of how absolutely egregious this error is. It doesn't help that students can look to a source as supposedly redoubtable as the New York Times to find several instances of this misuse. It enrages me, I tell you. Rage.
And while we're on the subject [crickets chirping, tumbleweeds blowing, audience of one yawning], what the heck is up with THEY'RE, THEIR, and THERE? I swear to ever living excrement that for the life of me, I cannot fathom how people mix these up. I know this is my own intolerance, I know there are any one of a number of good reasons, but good Lord, I cannot stomach it.
So, again, at the risk of sounding, at best, didactic, at worst, like a total asshole:
THEIR: Plural posessive. As in, "Republicans have their heads up their posteriors."
THEY'RE: Contraction of "They Are." As in, "They're gonna be SOOOO surprised when they find out that Cheney ate their babies."
THERE: Umm... I forget what you call this one. Article? Preposition? Anyhoo, it's the one you use when you say, "over there." As in, "Take a Valium, Dale, and put your big, red pen over there."
Ahhhhh, I feel much better now.