Please don’t anybody get mad at me. This is meant in good will and, naturally, hope and peace.
Grammar and Punctuation re Pronouns
No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!
Remain calm. Unclench your fists. Listen to your breath. Okay?
I was not not taught about possessives this way, but at some point I had a revelation, which is this: No pronoun used in possessive form EVER uses an apostrophe, whether an “S” is involved or not. NOT EVER.
You know the pronouns, right?
I, you, she, he, we, they, it, who
When used as a possessive, instead of adding apostrophe followed by “S”, the pronoun undergoes a different spelling.
Possessive forms for “I” are “my” and “mine.”
Possessive forms for “you” are “your” and “yours.”
Possessive forms for “she” are “her” and “hers.”
Possessive form for “he” is just “his.”
Possessive forms for “we” are “our” and “ours.”
Possessive forms for “they” are “their” and “theirs.”
Possessive form for “it” is just “its.”
Possessive form for “who” is just “whose.”
Using those quotation marks was proper, but distracting, so here are all of the pronouns and their possessive forms with nothing getting in the way:
I — my, mine
you — your, yours
she — her, hers
he — his
we — our, ours
they — their, theirs
it — its
who — whose
No apostrophes followed by an “s” with any of them.
Now, certainly there are contractions that sound the same as some of those possessives, and that do use apostrophe-s or apostrophe-re, but their meanings are completely different, NOT EVER possessive. For those words, the apostrophe-s means the word “is” has been turned into just the sound of an “S” or the word “are” has been turned into the sound of the “R.” The contracted word means something is or somethings are.
For example, “They’re going to visit their family.” Two words are pronounced the same, but one means “they are” and the other means whose family is being visited.
My headline did the same with the contracted and possessive forms of “you.”
Other examples: “It’s too young to go to its grave.” “Who’s going to tell me whose mess this is!”
It’s easy to be typing fast and do it wrong. I figure it’s even easier to use some kinds of translating software and have it interpreted wrong. (I don’t have that kind of software, so don’t have any actual experience with it.)
For those of you who think I’m a Grammar Nazi, well, you may be right. But here’s the thing: when I’m reading a diary, I want to focus on the ideas or emotions expressed. I don’t want to have to read and reread a sentence because the wrong punctuation meant I misunderstood the first reading. And I’m not lazy for feeling that it’s too much work. It’s the writer’s job to express ideas and tell stories the right way in the first place, not to rely on my doubled-up efforts in the second place.
So, love to you all, Kossacks. I respect and admire all y’all’s work. GAH! There is an exception to every rule, and there it is, dammit.
Never mind.