Its versus It's

So I'll admit it: I sent an email yesterday and I used the wrong "its." I was thoroughly embarrassed when I realized my mistake, and so I decided to put up a post explaining the difference for all of us and to encourage me to proofread more carefully next time!

So what is the difference? Let's start with the basics:

it's: With an apostrophe, it is a contraction, either "it is" or "it has."
e.g.: It's too bad I didn't proofread that email!

its: Without an apostrophe, it is a possessive pronoun, that is, a word that replaces a noun and shows ownership.
e.g.: Too bad email can't proofread its own text.

Still having trouble? The easiest way to figure it out is to try substituting in "it is" each time you go to use "its." If "it is" works, then you want the apostrophe. If "it is" doesn't fit, then you don't want the apostrophe.

e.g. It's (it is) a good thing I will proofread this post; it would be bad if the post had its (it is? doesn't work) content wrong!

National Grammar Day?!

We missed it! But check out this website:

http://nationalgrammarday.com/

With any luck, our little, humble blog will be added to their list soon!

Plagiarism

With all of the recent discussion of plagiarism in politics, online media, and mass publication, we thought it might be useful to remind everyone of what, exactly, plagiarism is:

The Oxford English Dictionary Online defines plagiarism as, "The action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft."

This means that when you write, you must give credit if you borrow ideas or language from someone else. What counts in this? Anything that isn't original to you, or anything that isn't common knowledge. For instance, when we give grammar rules on the side bar, you'll notice we don't cite a source. That is because these rules are (or should be!) common knowledge. However, when we relate a funny story from the news, we always offer the link to the original and the source (website, author as available), because the ideas and the language are not our own.

Notice that plagiarism includes both ideas and exact language. You can't just change the words around and call it your own; you must still give credit to the original author.

What does that mean for the current scandals? Are borrowed speech lines plagiarism? What about using sections of another's work in a publication? And how do the rules vary when we move from the printed media to the internet?

The answer is, it's murky. Any time one borrows, one should give credit to the original author. The current practices in world of blogging and online writing have certainly loosened that rule, however. I know I can at least speak for me and probably for my sister when I say that that doesn't matter, and writing is writing, no matter what the medium. Plagiarism in any form is stealing. (Amen, sister, says Daniele!)

Unfortunately, we see plagiarism all around us. In student papers, it often comes in the form of facts and information lifted from websites. On college campuses, we have witnessed plagiarism scandals involving professors and even college presidents. And in the wider world, every once in a while we see a story about a book that has plagiarized passages, or this week, a White House adviser who plagiarized in newspaper columns.

It is sad. And it is hard, as a teacher, to make students understand the right thing to do, especially when the adults around them are cheating too.

(Here's a link to a PowerPoint presentation Daniele did on plagiarism for faculty at Durham Technical Community College in 2003. As citation rules change frequently, some of the specific details may have changed, but the bulk remains consistent: http://courses.durhamtech.edu/eng041/internetplagiarism_files/frame.htm)

Anyone have any thoughts on this one?

December 20, 2007

All I want for Christmas is...
Rep. Paul Hodes's camp sent out an email from his wife Peggo, which details what her congressman hubby wants for Christmas (i.e. money in which to be re-elected). "I caught a peak of his holiday wish list," it reads.
And aside from wanting Eric Clapton's guitar, Hodes also apparently wants: "Good jobs, health care and quality educaiton for the 2nd District."
Oh the irony of wanting quality education.

By Anne Schroeder Mullins 10:58 AM

The Word of the Year...

And the word of the year is...

Locavore

At least it is according to The New Oxford American Dictionary. "Locavore" refers to the movement to buy local or homegrown food to support local farmers and environmental causes.

Merriam-Webster, however, disagrees, and officially declared this the word of the year:

w00t

"w00t" is a computer gaming word somehow akin to "yay." More than that, I don't know. Check out this link though for more background: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1155159520071212

And so what do I say is the word of the year? I don't know about 2007, but I've got my word for 2008...

In true Syntax Sisters fashion, I want to declare this the year of "fewer."
Yes, I want this to be the year grocery stores and cable television programs fix their grammar and proudly ask us to step up to the express lane only if we have twelve or fewer items. I want the word "less" to be banished to uncountable quantities only, doomed to live a life of indeterminate value. I believe this is the year English begins its slow climb into proper usage and grammar teachers across the country can stand up and be proud to say there are fewer errors than there were last year!

But then again, I've always been a bit of a nerd.

What's your word of the year?

Couldn't resist...

This is taken from an article on cnn.com:

"U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal became the nation's youngest governor and the first nonwhite to hold post in Louisiana since Reconstruction when he carried more than half the vote to defeat 11 opponents."

Can you spot what's wrong? It's funny...

Hint: a word or phrase that modifies a noun must be next to the noun it modifies.

The answer is in the comments section...

Where have we gone?

The Syntax Sisters are currently on hiatus. We continue to care about grammar and correct everything in sight, but for the time being we have stopped posting.
If you would like to see our return, please email us at syntaxsisters@yahoo.com.
We might be enticed back!