Grammar Girl Trips on Its/It's

I've been enjoying Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, the just-published first book by Mignon Fogarty. Like Fogarty's Grammar Girl podcasts, the book is breezy and reassuring, yet authoritative. Fogarty uses just enough popular-culture references to guarantee her readers' attention without sounding like she's trying too hard. And she charms us by sharing some of her own usage faux pas.

For example, on page 35 she confesses:

When I was in second grade, I lost a spelling bee because I misspelled the word its. I put an apostrophe in where I shouldn't have, and it was a very traumatic moment in my young life. I think this lesson is burned into my mind precisely because of my past misdeeds, and although I can't change my past, I believe the next best thing would be to save you all from similar apostrophe-induced horrors.

Well and good, except on page 177 she writes:

When you're tempted to use communicate, ask yourself if you really mean tell. Communicate has it's place...

An example follows, but I couldn't concentrate. I was too distracted by that apostrophe-induced horror.

It's bad enough when an error like this one slips into the daily newspaper or an annual report. But in a book purporting to tell us Right from Wrong, usage-wise ... oh, dear.

Linguists have a semi-jokey name for this particular nightmare: Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation. It specifies that "any article or statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one error." (For example, in that particular phrase in the article I just linked to, by Jed Hartman himself, "error" is misspelled "eror.") This rule is also known as McKean's Law, in honor of "dictionary evangelist" Erin McKean.

Here's my advice to Mignon Fogarty, who is currently on book tour: own up to the error and treat it with your characteristic good humor. Use it as an opportunity to talk about Hartman's Law, McKean's Law, famous mistakes-in-print, and Our National Proofreading Crisis.

And make sure it's corrected in the second edition.

___

It you were expecting this post to be about ice cream, I apologize. Read more about It's-It ice cream treats here.

Comments

[Martin Bishop]

She would qualify for my stock note in such instances: "It's not "it's", it's "its"." (And the ice cream is great too.)

[Genie]

I can sympathize (empathize?) with Grammar Girl because I misspelled towel (spelled it towol) in our 3rd grade class' spelling contest and it's stuck with me ever since.

[deja pseu]

Ohhh, It's-Its! They are my utter and complete nutritional downfall.

[Karen]

The worst offender of all is Lynn Truss; see Louis Menand's scathing review of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves": http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/06/28/040628crbo_books1

[The Name Inspector]

You're right about owning up to it. We all make mistakes.

But Our National Proofreading Crisis is getting out of hand. A few months ago the New York Times had a headline on page one that put "by" where "buy" should have been.

Not so long after that, William Safire, in his weekly "On Language" column, referred repeatedly to "the noun 'perfect'" when he clearly meant the adjective. That wasn't so much a proofreading error as a proofthinking one. Or maybe a very, very outdated used of the word "noun". Or maybe just a flat-out dumb mistake. See for yourself: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13wwln-safire-t.html?pagewanted=print

[Grammar Girl (Mignon)]

Oh, the horror!

I'm not surprised at all that "it's" is the first typo someone found in my book. As you noted, that word has been tormenting me since second grade. Of course, I know the difference now, but I still commonly type it the wrong way. My proofreaders know to watch out for it, yet one slipped through. (I'm praying there aren't more!)

Thank you for the kind treatment and for making me aware of Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation.

[Nancy]

@Grammar Girl: Thanks for dropping by! And believe me, I'm truly sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
@The Name Inspector: Oof, that Safire gaffe (Gaffire?) is really awful! And not just once, but three times. "Proofthinking," indeed.
@Karen: Yes, Truss is pretty bad. But worth enduring if only for that deliciously withering Menand review.
@Deja Pseu: For years I've managed to pretend that It's-Its don't exist, but since writing this post I've had this hankering...
@Genie: I've heard it said that spelling-bee contestants NEVER forget the word they got dinged on.
@Martin: Good idea, but I'm not convinced it would work. Some people might memorize it in exactly the reverse order.

[goofy]

I think it's weird how much we fetishize the apostrophe.

[daveblake]

"It's" for the possessive "its" is the commonest English spelling error; I make it weekly. (Have to get busy, haven't made it this week yet.) I never forget the apostrophe when it's needed; I just often add it when I shouldn't. That's because we don't put apostrophes in possessive pronouns. Since "our" is plural and "his", "her", and "their" are unique words, "its" is the only possessive formed by adding an "s" to a singular noun or pronoun in the English language that DOESN'T take an apostrophe, so the problem is easy to understand.

Still, I feel Grammar Girl's pain. (Do I sound like I'm running for President of the Editors' Club?) In a book my shop typeset, Rewrite Right! from Ten Speed, the otherwise totally estimable Jan Venolia produced a list of overworked expressions on which she included "just desserts". The real expression (not as overworked these days as the wrong one, which I imagine we owe mostly to the eponymous dessert chain, although George Orwell most likely deserves credit for coining the pun) is "just deserts" (what is justly deserved), and everybody missed it. Sigh.

daveB

[daveblake]

Oh, and my one missed word was "busyness", 5th grade.

[Jennifer]

I just ordered Grammar girl's book so I guess the second edition may include this discussion here in the intro of the new edition?

This proves that no one is perfect not even editors when you are trying your best to be grammatically correct.

My school made the worst error on it's slogan on printed merchandise. It read, "Spelman, Our Whole School for CHIST." It should have read, "Spelman, Our Whole School for Christ."

Oh well 8)

Thanks for enlightening me.

[Nancy Friedman]

@Jennifer: Oh, how I wish I had a photo of that misprint...

P.S. Hartman's Law once again! You wanted the possessive of "it" -- "its" slogan, not "it's."