On Fri, Aug 27, 2004 at 09:29:14PM +0200, Florian Weimer wrote: > * Kevin B. McCarty: > > Recall that "it's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has", and any other > > use (e.g. as a possessive) is not grammatically correct English. > > Hypothetical examples: > > - XMMS is cool. It's one of the best ... [correct, "It is"] > > - XMMS is cool. It's been rated highly ... [correct, "It has"] > > - XMMS is cool. It's features include ... [wrong] > > - XMMS is cool. Its features include ... [correct, possessive] > > Using "it's" and "its" correctly is in your best interest, since incorrect > > usage may cause someone browsing the package descriptions to have a bad > > first impression of that package. > If this is really important, lintian could enforce a style guide that > prohibts "it's" altogether, always requiring the spelled-out versions. > (While we are at it, "e.g." and "i.e." are good candidates for a ban, > too. 8-) In that direction, we could (as I nearly suggested last week) ban all personal pronouns to prevent displaying any gender bias, while not putting the weight of Debian's collective English grammar behind any particular gender-neutral personal singular pronoun. ^_^ -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Paul "TBBle" Hampson, MCSE 7th year CompSci/Asian Studies student, ANU The Boss, Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361) Paul.Hampson@Anu.edu.au "No survivors? Then where do the stories come from I wonder?" -- Capt. Jack Sparrow, "Pirates of the Caribbean" This email is licensed to the recipient for non-commercial use, duplication and distribution. -----------------------------------------------------------
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