THE WORD BATTLES - ITS vs. IT'S

A little bit easier to deal with than the triple threat of they're, there, and their are several two-word conundrums. Today, we'll talk about its vs. it's.

It's is the contraction for it is or it has. To test to see if it's is correct, read your sentence substituting it is or it has for it's. If it sounds right, it is. Keep it's.

Its, however, is a pronoun and signifies possession; it owns something. If it is or it has doesn't make sense, chances are you want to use its. To confirm this, think about whether your sentence is talking about something belonging to it or owned by it. If it does, its is correct.

For more information, see Dictionary.com's definition of its and its discussion of how it's confused with it's.

THEY'RE OVER THERE WITH THEIR WARES - The Triple Threat

One of the biggest writing errors one can make and one of the easiest to correct is the proper usage of the words they're, there, and their. Even though I know how to use these words properly, mistakes still show up in my writing. Apparently my typing fingers have minds of their own...

An easy way to correct these mistakes in Microsoft Word is through a "Find" search. In Word 2007, it is on the "Home" tab under "Editing" - to the far right on my computer. Search each of they're, their, and there separately to double check if the correct word was used. If you can't tell, try these tricks.

They're is the contraction for they are so read the sentence substituting they are for they're; if it sounds right, keep they're. If it doesn't, try there or their.

Their shows possession for the group they or them. If your sentence is describing something owned by they or them (like their wares), then their is correct.

There is a little bit trickier. According to Dictionary.com, there can mean “in or at that place; at that point in an action, speech, etc.; in that matter, particular, or respect; into or to that place; or used by way of calling attention to something or someone.” In my mind, there refers to a place or location but not necessarily a physical location. If the sentence isn't talking about possession and they are doesn't make sense, chances are you want there. To triple-check, decide if the Dictionary.com explanation applies. 

Happy their, they're, and there hunting!

I ACCEPT THE EXCEPTION or DO I TAKE EXCEPTION TO YOUR ACCEPTING?

A couple of months ago I saw a story on the ten o'clock news about private social clubs in our area. It was a continuing story so they showed the same video over several nights: a sign on one of the club's doors that said, "Donation Excepted."

According to Dictionary.com, "Excepted" means excluded or left out...

What I think the club probably meant to say was "Donations Accepted."

According to Dictionary.com, "Accepted" means "generally approved" or "usually regarded as normal, right, etc."

The moral of the story? Make sure you use the correct word or you just may actually discourage people from doing what you want them to do.

A CHUCKLE ON A HOT DAY

At least a year or a couple of years ago now, I don't remember where we were, what we are doing, or what show it was on, but my kids and I saw one of those funny-picture or funny-ad segments about this furniture company called "Sofa King." It showed an ad that said something like "Shop Sofa King where the prices are Sofa King low." (A Google search shows a lot of people have jumped onto the "Sofa King" bandwagon.)

Of course, my kids (and I'll admit it, me) thought this was hilarious. And, of course, they tried to use it as a way to say the f-word without actually saying the f-word. After our initial giggles wore off, my husband and I banned the "Sofa King" proclamations. But, even so long after the initial appearance of this phrase, it comes up every now and then. And it is still as funny as it ever was.

For the past week or so, our temperatures here have been hovering around the 100 degree mark with heat indexes well above that. I cannot even count the number of times I've thought, "It is Sofa King hot!" And then I had a little chuck and it made me feel a bit better. Go ahead, give it a try!

The moral of the story: Say your written words out loud to make sure they sound like you want them to sound.

From: The Wordsy Woman

SHE'S HERE!!

The transition is complete. You can call me "Wordsy!" Wordsy Woman Word Sales and Service rolled out yesterday at Midwest Writing Center's David R. Collins Writers' Conference Book Fair. I saw some current (not old) friends, met some new friends, and talked with a lot of great people.

If you didn't get a chance to come out to the book fair (or weren't around the Quad Cities USA so you could) and missed out on my freebies, you're not totally out of luck. To get a copy of my brochure, "The Wordsy Woman's Creative Writing Quick-Start Guide: Get from wisher to writer right out of the box!", send me an email at jodie@wordsywoman.com; I'll reply with an address to send a SASE (that's a self-address stamped envelope in the writing world) so I can send you one. If you want to save postage and prefer a PDF, let me know that in your email.

Happy July! More "wordsy" posts to come.

All by best,
Wordsy