In the last two weeks, two articles in the Wall Street Journal—most noticeably, on the covers of inside sections—committed the same terrible grammar faux-pas. Both used “it’s” as the possessive form of “it,” which should always be written as “its.”
“It’s” is only a contraction for “it is.” While it may be tempting to write “it’s” as the possessive of “it,” it helps to recall that we don’t write “he’s” for “his” when using another common possessive.
While reading the paper’s May 15 edition, I saw one “it’s” used this way on the cover of a weekend real estate section and chalked it up to a single minor oversight. (“This Sunday on the season finale, the plot involving Mr. McDonough’s character finally reaches it’s wildly dramatic climax.”)
This Sunday on the season finale, the plot involving Mr. McDonough’s character finally reaches it’s wildly dramatic climax.”)
But then, on Thursday, this second example popped out at me. In an article on the cover of the Marketplace section from Thursday, May 21, 2009, “Industries Are Grappling With New Bill On Climate,” slightly below the fold, I saw this (in the paragraph beginning, “The bill has been put forward by U.S. Reps. Henry A. Waxman…”):
“It’s prospects look good in the House, but it could face a tougher time in the Senate.”
Argh!
What are the writers thinking? And where in the world are the editors?
I will not take this opportunity to upbraid this particular author, since it could have been an error introduced by an editor (I know the sting of that!), but I do hope someone is paying attention at the WSJ!
MeredithInk 