Anything Else

Perhaps you've noticed those little ' marks at the top of words too. That's called a contraction, where I leave out part of the word. Is it lazy? Yes, but it also saves me from having to write all those words out. What are some examples of shortened or shorthand words in your language or culture? Can you pick out all the contractions from the text? It's stands for it is. I'm is used in place of I am. You're goes in place of you are. You've is being used for you have. Notice how this is quite different from the ' apostrophe that indicates possessives. Let's (let us) say you have (those are parenthesis that contain additional information, most commonly used in the informal case) and I said the following: "Cats and bats like hats." That would be a direct quotation from me. Therefore, those funny little " " are called quotation marks.

Hopefully, you're language isn't quite as complicated. Now, I have made an error. Can you find it? That's right (that is). It is that funny looking you're (you are) there. It should be done as your due to the possessive. That's because it is referring to the language that is yours. Therefore, it belongs to you. If it was my language, it would be mine. See, I already did it by saying my language. Now let's say I don't use either yours or mine. Instead, it's the book's language. The book's there does not stand for the book is. Rather it means the language belongs to the book.

See how I'm picking up speed, tone, and a distinct writing style already just by using all sorts of these fancy little things. Do you feel confident enough to do it? Here's a tricky one. It's stands for it is. Its indicates multiples of something like say many pens. Its' means that the it is possessive. Here's another example. There stands for something right over there and I'm pointing right at it. Their is a possessive that stands for those people over there. There's means there is a cat over there in that corner. Theirs is a plural possessive as in the hats that all belong to the cats. That's a lot of trouble now, isn't it? Notice the isn't is also a contraction that means something is not. That's not a possessive but rather that is. Okay, okay. That's enough for now, don't you think?