I think the book Eats Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is a good guide to using apostrophes and clears out some other punctuation confusions as well. It is an interesting book.
Someone mentioned schooling both in England and in the US. Regardless of where you went to school, the correct form for the possessive is "its." I have a hard time swallowing that English teachers would mess up this rule. These people have spent at least four years of their lives studying the language and teaching methodology. Surely this issue would be addressed in one or more of those classes. Students in today's schools, however, do miss this point - "its" vs. "it's" - and I can easily believe that someone would - albeit erroneously - believe that he or she were taught "it's" for the possessive. Why else would students make that mistake? Would they purposely make errors? I doubt it. They do, however, believe they are right when they write "it's" for "its," but that doesn't mean their teachers taught them that way.
That'll be me that mentioned that dwspig2. I concede that I may never have been taught incorrectly but I remain adamant that I was not taught the correct form, nor had errors corrected until about the age of 17 or so, which makes the errors made seem natural. Though I am glad to report I have this mastered now, save for when I type too quickly of course.
From what I've seen of school assignments (in the USA), English teachers are struggling just to get the students to submit intelligible papers, with complete sentences and words that the reader can guess what the intended word is. Often, assigned work isn't turned in at all. The papers that are submitted are so laden with more egregious errors that issues of possessive pronouns are but a few snowflakes in a blizzard. That may sound harsh. I don't believe it is inaccurate though.
i've always been told that it was 'its' for the possessive (sp?) and it doesn't take an apostrophe, just like 'his' and 'hers don't take apostrophes. (But i think you're right, 'one' does become 'one's'!) But our class never have this problem, as apostrophes used for contraction are strictly forbidden (except for 'o'clock', because it just take far too long to write out '7 of the clock'!) !
I am an English teacher in the USA (11th and 12th grade). Some of my students still struggle with the it's vs. its, your vs. you're, affect vs. effect, whose vs. who's and so on. I reteach it--more than once. Still doesn't always stick. I have my theories why, but that is for another string. My daughter, in elementary school, had that as one of her lessons this year. It is being taught. Whether it's being remembered is another issue. Terry
This sounds odd to me. Do they expect everyone to speak and write like Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation the rest of their lives? If the students don't practice the correct use of the apostophe in contractions, how can they be expected to get them right later?
In formal written work that follows MLA guidelines, which many high schools require, contractions are a no-no. The same goes for using "you" instead of "one." I personally like MLA style, but I also know how to correctly use contractions, so I'm not in danger of misusing them for lack of practice.
the MLA is not meant for creative writing, only scholarly/research/technical works... so, to use or refer it as a guide for creative mediums is a big mistake, imo... same goes for the CMS, which is aimed at journalism...
But if we're talking about schooling, most written work that's done there is formal and is not creative. As far as creative writing is concerned, I was in a "short stories" club, and there the adviser - an English teacher - encouraged us to forgo formality and use more colloquial constructions. Alas, short stories club was not required for all, so not every student was encouraged to write without contractions.
