Friday, August 12, 2011

Grammar Friday - Apostrophes (Part 1) and Other Random Things

Apostrophes, Part 1

Test sentence:

A good restaurant requires cleanliness in every part of it's operation.

So, is that sentence correct?

Well ...

it’s = contraction of it is or it has
its = possessive of it or belonging to it

So, if you can replace it's in your sentence with it is--and it still makes sense--then your word is it's. If you can't, then your word is its.

So, I ask again. Is the sentence in blue correct?

Extra credit question:

What happens when its is possessive?
Sorry, got distracted there.

Well, nothing actually. Its stays the same. Its doesn't have a special possessive form.

I know. I'm sure it feels discriminated against. Or, is that its ....

Word Processing Wars

Peggy Eddleman had a great blog post on Wednesday about which word processing system she uses. What about you?

Award 1 (unwarranted)
People have been really kind to me lately. I even got an award I didn't qualify for. Barbara Kloss gave me this:


I don't qualify for her thoughtful gift because I have too many followers. However, I can pass it through to other, worthy recipients.

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver
Danke, Barbara (in keeping with the German theme).

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog--and follow them!
Melanie Jacobsen (she was my bootcamp instructor at Storymaker, and she rocks)
Jeff King over at Author's Union (he's such a kind poster)
Robin Weeks (I know, I pass a lot of stuff on to her, but she's an amazing writer, critique partner, and dang fun person--even for an attorney. Plus she didn't take me up on the bloomers meme)

Nancy S. Thompson (since she tagged me earlier with that unmentionables meme =D )
KT over at Out of My Mind

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
Done

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

Award 2

J.A. Bennett over at A Book, A Girl, A Journey gave me this cute award:

And what's amazing is the picture even looks like me now that I've had my highlights put in again. All right, in this picture the cute subject still has eyebrows (mine fell down to my chin). And I don't have hairy toes. Aren't you glad to know that?

Since this post is too long already and I've answered enough questions about myself with other awards, I will do one thing: Share a quote.
"I dwell in possibility." ~Emily Dickenson

Following are the folks I'm passing this award off to:
Kaylee Baldwin (she makes me smile a lot)
Jolene Perry (don't you love the cover to her book?)
Laura Josephsen (you've already heard me talk about her lots

ETA: That's embarrassing. This was supposed to post tomorrow. Dang Blogger. ROFL I changed the date again and now it says it's already Friday. If you're able to read this, you've time traveled to the future. Doesn't that make you feel special? Now, how will you get home?

35 comments:

  1. "Mine fell down to my chin" lol, you are too funny! (I say that becasue I don't believe a word of it.) Thanks for passing the award on!

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  2. Thanks for the it's/its reminder, and congrats on the awards!

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  3. I love your grammar days. The spooky kitty is way cute. I had no idea you hadn't been Liebsterized recently...I would have done it sooner. :)

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  4. Wait a minute, it's only Thurday over here...no fair.

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  5. Always a good refresher. Good luck on your critique!

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  6. yay for you x2!
    and i've had to watch my its lately...i also hate when people confuse their theres and their yours...
    (i cant talk much. i prob irritate some folks w/o my caps since i use my ipad so much =)

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  7. APOSTROPHES are the devil!

    You are the coolest, unqualified winner I know. :D

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  8. Congratulations, Donna! I'd love to see more grammar posts. :)

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  9. I feel tons better know that I've indeed achieved space travel thanks to the advanced technology of Blogger. :)

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  10. Annnd... I've already got that award. :) http://robinweeks.blogspot.com/2011/07/liebster-up-and-comers-like-me.html

    Honestly, Donna. Do you even READ my blog? :D (I would have given it to you, but, like you've said, you don't qualify.) Hmph.

    Still, people keep trying to give it to me again, so I might just re-re-gift it. :)

    Thanks!

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  11. Aww, THANK YOU for the award!

    Personally, I think you are WAY cuter than that award pic. ;)

    TIME TRAVEL! HUZZAH! I feel very special. I think I'll take my time travel bicycle back to Thursday now.

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  12. Hey Donna! Well, shucks, thanks a bunch. Like Robin, I, too, have already received this award. I did enjoy the Liebster though. I keep the badge in the sidebar of my blog so I never forget the honor.

    I've enjoyed all the summer "fluff," the contests, the awards, the memes. I'm trying to get back to the business of some serious writing again. And after my serious flub yesterday, I think I have some material for my next blog.

    Thanks for tagging me. I love the recognition!

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  13. Congrats on the award. Excellent post on apostrophes! Those little upper side dash thingies can be so tenacious, it's scary. Or is it "its?" I'm sure it's "it's."

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  14. Congrats on the well deserved award.

    Yvonne.

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  15. I'm in Hawaii and it's only 11:30 in the morning but I thought maybe you were in Australia or Saudi!

    In my critique group, one person insisted I change my word choice to "it's" because I was using the word as a possessive. She was an English major.

    Thank you for visiting my blog last week, Donna.

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  16. I always write out "it is or it has" for this reason and then revise it out later.

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  17. I think I've got my "its" figured out by now, overall . . . though I still make mistakes if I'm writing fast or don't want to bother putting in the apostrophes. LOL.

    Microsoft Word, 2007.

    Congratulations on the awards! :)

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  18. THANKS, (I think).

    What the heck is a Liebster award?

    Will do my best to keep it going however, most of my followers don't accept awards. .....kt

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  19. congrats on the awards.
    And that cute one is seriously cute

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  20. It's always good to have reminders. Congrats on the awards.

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  21. When I'm proofreading, I have to think about its it's every time and usually have to reread the sentence and throw in "it is" to make sure. :)

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  22. I'm trying to think of an example in which either its or it's could be used, but I can't come up with one.

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  23. Lol - this is too cute!! Love the dog award (congrats!) ~ and your connection to it. :)

    I'm actually pretty good with my "its/it's", because I do that "it is" in my head test every time. It works!

    And I'm totally lame - just looking through my comments finally and saw that I'll see you tomorrow!! Yay! The bootcamp should be great!

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  24. I did finally get the it's / its thing down! :)

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  25. Congrats on the awards, but that cat kind of spooked me;)

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  26. Donna,
    I started a new blog with my first book review on there posted today.. Check it out, leave a comment or reccomendations if you have any.

    (the blog consists of recipes, book review and much more)

    itsjustcalledspicy.blogspot.com

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  27. Congrats on the awards!

    I pride myself on grammar, but I didn't know the its possessive rule until a couple of years ago. I was flabbergasted that I somehow missed that! It's a great one to do a highlight on.

    And thanks for the shout out to my blog! That's so sweet!

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  28. Wonderful! We all are always here to support you!

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  29. Ok, I prepared a response. I can't post it until September 12th. I hope that this or my response do not disappoint.

    I'll tap you when it posts. kt

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  30. I just discovered your blog. Great post! And congratulations on the awards. : )

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  31. That's a lot of Its...

    It reminds me of a version of tag we used to play. If you said "it" you were 'it'.

    So you had to avoid saying 'it' if you didn't want to be 'it'.

    Thanks Donna for your post!

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