When referring to the possessive, I didn’t know that its and
´Ç²Ô±ð’s are spelt in a different way, its without the
apostrophe and ´Ç²Ô±ð’s with the apostrophe. Please explain more.
Its
is a possessive like my, your, his, her,
our and their and you are quite right, it is very
important not to insert an apostrophe when using it in this way.
Its
is the neutral equivalent of his and her. Study the
following:
'Every country has its own customs and traditions.'
'It was a Manx cat and its tail was therefore very short.'
'Its coat was very thick.'
'Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was [as] white as
snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.'
(Trad. English nursery rhyme)
It
is important not to confuse its with ¾±³Ù’s.
±õ³Ù’s
is the contracted form of it is or it has and
usage is, of course, completely different. Study the following four
examples.
See if you can work out in which of them ¾±³Ù’s is the contracted
form of it is and in which of them ¾±³Ù’s is the contracted
form of it has.
'What’s the time?' '±õ³Ù’s a quarter to nine.' '±õ³Ù’s
time for you to go to bed!'
'Who’s that over there?' 'I don’t believe it. ±õ³Ù’s Prince
William!'
'How’s the condition of the man injured in the car crash?'
'±õ³Ù’s improving all the time.'
'Have you seen my watch? ±õ³Ù’s disappeared from the bathroom.
±õ³Ù’s got a bright yellow strap.'
(±õ³Ù’s only in the fourth example above that ¾±³Ù’s is the contracted
form of it has.)
°¿²Ô±ð’s
is also a possessive determiner like your and is used
to talk about people in general.
°¿²Ô±ð’s
is more formal than your. Compare the following:
'A home of ´Ç²Ô±ð’s own is what most people aspire to.'
'You always want the best for your children – that’s
only natural.'
Note
that one and you are similarly formal/informal:
'You can’t learn a foreign language in four or six weeks.
±õ³Ù’s impossible.'
'If one wishes to perfect ´Ç²Ô±ð’s English, one
has only to go to a country where it is spoken.
Finally
note that one and ones (this time without the apostrophe)
are sometimes used as substitute words, i.e. we use them rather
than repeating countable nouns.
In
this aspect, ´Ç²Ô±ð’s is also possible when it is the contracted
form of one is. Study the following:
'Could I try on those shoes?' 'Which ones?' 'The ones
in the window at the front on the left.'
'There are so many children in this photo. Which one
is your daughter?' 'The one in the blue dress.'
'I really like these sweaters, but do you have any other sizes?
This ´Ç²Ô±ð’s too small and that ´Ç²Ô±ð’s too big.
