A suggestion

[ain'ttranslationfun?]

There are 40 page of threads on "its/it's" & vice-versa, so I don't know where to suggest this, but: Isn't the easiest solution to write "it is/it has" in full instead of "it's" (when possible) to avoid confusion? (This is just a thought ; if it has already been made in one of the posts in those 40 threads -- but can one be reasonably supposed to read that many? -- it will of course be removed.)

 

[bennymix]

It's good that you posted this!

 

[Linkway]

Do you think "it's" causes much confusion?

 

[DonnyB]

I'm not sure how you got 40 results: when I searched for "its it's" I retrieved a page of about 20. But even that's too many. There is, as you say, no way of telling at a glance from those results which threads are asking about its, it is and/or it has. Part of the problem is that a lot of those old threads date from the days when we weren't as watchful about that sort of thing as we are now: if I saw a thread where someone had used its/it's as the title I'd alter it.

But to go back now and try and do anything with something like that is just impractical: unfortunately, we just don't have that sort of time. I forget what it was now, but I searched for something the other day and got well over a hundred results where people had used more or less the same title.

 

[ain'ttranslationfun?]

I'm not sure how you got 40 results: when I searched for "its it's" I retrieved a page of about 20. But even that's too many. There is, as you say, no way of telling at a glance from those results which threads are asking about its, it is and/or it has. Part of the problem is that a lot of those old threads date from the days when we weren't as watchful about that sort of thing as we are now: if I saw a thread where someone had used its/it's as the title I'd alter it.

But to go back now and try and do anything with something like that is just impractical: unfortunately, we just don't have that sort of time. I forget what it was now, but I searched for something the other day and got well over a hundred results where people had used more or less the same title.

I'm not suggesting you "go back and try to do anything with something like that"; it would indeed be impractical. But where (if at all !) do you think I should have posted my suggestion for reducing the possibility of confusion between "its" and "it's"?

Thanks!
P. S., I got the same 40 pp of results when searching in this forum both for "its it's" and for "it's its".

 

[ain'ttranslationfun?]

Do you think "it's" causes much confusion?

It can for non-native learners.

 

[ain'ttranslationfun?]

In retrospect, I guess I should have written the title as

A suggestion for avoiding the possible confusion between "its" an "it's" when writing.

 

[bennymix]

A better title would be-- "It's a problem--it's vs its-- which has its solution."