You would argue 'til Kingdom Come on any of your many schoolboy errors, Andy dear..... The fact remains that you've misused an apostroph'e...... Try to learn from it, sweetheart...... Lucia x
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, haitch...er no its just h, (aitch)..silly little chavs. Huh is the sound the letter makes, aitch is how you pronounce it, don't combine the two you silly little people.
The most basic and fundamental rule pertaining to the proper use of an apostrophe involves making a singular noun possessive. This includes both formal and informal nouns. For example: “The puppy's tail wagged happily.” or “Mary's hat was left in the church pew.” Some confusion starts to occur when an effort is made to turn a plural noun possessive. Indeed, it is precisely in such circumstances that even experienced writers tend to make mistakes. The general rule is that when a noun is considered to be a “normal plural” (a noun with an “s” already placed at the end of the word to make it plural) no additional “s” is to be added to render the plural noun possessive. The correct way in which to turn a normal plural noun possessive is: “The kittens' mother watched her babies with care.” Oftentimes, a writer actually will incorrectly attempt to make a normal plural noun possessive in this manner: “The kittens's mother watched her babies with care.” On the other hand, if you are dealing with a noun that is made plural without the addition of the letter “s” you will add an apostrophe “s” to make the word itself possessive. The proper way to render a noun that is plural without the addition of an “s” is as follows: “The women's book club meets on Thursday afternoons at the pub.” Very few people actually do make a mistake of not including an “s” in their efforts to make these types of words possessive. However, a mistake that occurs in some instances when making this type of word possessive occurs in regard to the placement of the apostrophe itself. For example: “The womens' book club meets on Thursday afternoons at the pub.”
...and it's widely acceptable to use 'it's' as it is, 'its' when using the possessive. An example can be made with many nouns, like for instance, dog. The dog's collar..... It's collar..... Mr. HandyAndy - Really
It all depends on the context in which you are using the noun. It is in the context of a question on the forum relating to the correct use of the noun in its plural form. So which is it?
Whilst that page is not foolproof, it certainly agrees with the majority of opinions, so I concede. I do however, still maintain my use of the 'it's' was to emphasise the male 'it' rather than female, and was my intention to show that. ie I used it to shorten 'it his'. (By the way, don't believe EVERTHING you read on wiki, it can be edited by numpties too!) Mr. HandyAndy - Really
You better write to the authors of the reference version of the OED Shandy, you clearly have vital information they have never heard of...........
Without reference to Wicky Pee, dear, the apostrophe is traditionally used to indicate missing letters from a word. It's can also be it is. Can't is can not, wouldn't is would not etc etc. Does not always have to be used to idntify plural or possession.