"it's" is a contraction of "it is".  It is not a possessive noun (you never see hi's or her's do you).  So in your example text, "its" is correct.

This is a really common grammatical mistake, one that I sometimes make and kick myself for it later.

- Steve

SomptingGuy is 100% correct except  "its" is a possessive pronoun not a noun.

Thanks - difficult being "non-English" and telling the English that their grammar is incorrect.

More info...

 

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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That is basically what I did - changed its to her and found that it wasn't her's.

It's fun thought! :)

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

um, SG said "it is not a possessive noun."  Is that not correct?

 

"It",(also she, he, her, him, they, them), is not a possessive pronoun and not a possessive noun.

Or as the helpful motto has it:

It's not its, it's it's.

Hope that helps

 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

Quote:

It's not its, it's it's.

That can't be correct!  It must supposed to be:

It's not its, it's its.

¡papá gordo ain't no madre flaca!

fattdad

The original was correct.  Spell it out:

It is not "its", it is "it is."

Meaning, any time you write "its" and add that darn apostrophe you mean "it is".  If the sentence doesn't make sense with "it is" in there, then remove the apostrophe.

 

Patricia Lougheed

Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

They both could work, but the second is a bit confusing:
It's not its, it's it's.
 - It (the word you want) is not "its," it (the word) is "it's."

It's not its, it's its.   
 - It (an object) is not its (a possession of an "it"), it (the same object) is its (a possession of some other "it", apparently).  

 

xwb has his/her answer.  Let's not confuse the matter.

- Steve

xwb, I know of an entire year in a prominent medical school in England that got reprimanded for not using its/it's correctly.

Heck, if I type too quickly and don't proof read well enough I still get it wrong.

However, in any kind of formal communication it's sloppiness and can distract from the technical veracity of the document.
 

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

Now I see. . . .

f-d

¡papá gordo ain't no madre flaca!

I think MadMango had the best explanation.  I learned that trick when I was in grammar school.  The simple test is to replace the suspect word with "his."  If the word "his" fits fairly well as a replacement, then there is no apostrophe.  If the word "his" makes no sense whatsoever, use the apostrophe.  

There's bound to be some strange sentence construction in which this trick doesn't work, but I have not seen it.   

Rule 1: Possessives and contractions use apostrophes.
Rule 2: Where rule 1 causes the same form, use the apostrophe for the contraction only.  

Stevenal's rules are completely wrong.

Possessive pronouns never use apostrophes, so Rule 1 is wrong.  For nouns, a -'s ending can mean either a contraction of noun + is, or a possessive form of the noun, but they look the same, and Rule 2 is wrong.

Hg

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Returning to the original post:

Quote:

This is for the benefit of xxx and its partners

I'da written it:

This is for the benefit of xxx and THEIR partners

f-d

¡papá gordo ain't no madre flaca!

Fattdad,
That would work only if xxx was plural:

This is for the benefit of companies and THEIR partners.

This is for the benefit of the company and ITS partners.

Just sayin'...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP, Certified DriveWorks AE
http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

JMirisola,

I'm with you on the usage of ITS and THEIR.  But I corrected someone in another thread, only to be told that THEIR in the singular is acceptable, based on usage by Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Chaucer, OED, King James Bible, etc., etc.

My authority is only Miss Shaw, Miss Barnes, etc., etc., but I still think we are correct.

My dad was a teacher and he spent years correcting my grammar. If I'm wrong, he's wrong and, as I keep telling my sons, dad is never wrong.  

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP, Certified DriveWorks AE
http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

There is a growing use of their, them and they in place of sigular non-sex specified addressing of a person.  This is because english has only sex oriented pronouns in the sigular form (where "it" is not appropriate).  I frequently use they and them, such as themself to represent this modern use of these words (which isn't so modern since their use in way actually dates back a few hundred years and by some prominent writers...as noted above).

It is starting to become more recognized as legit by the powers that be, and if we continue their usage in this way, it will become proper grammar in very short time (maybe within our life times).

In this case, though, I agree with JM. :)

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

The trend I'm seeing in the use of their is that there are lots of bad spellers about.  It is often spelt as they're and even there.

You can thank spell-check for that, I think.  I rarely type typos anymore, but now just outright type the wrong words by mistake.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group