Till date, the adjective ‘its’ and the contraction ‘it’s’ have been described by the Chambers 21st Century dictionary as the most common error in the English language. One can feel, sense, and even see it in every day written and spoken English. For me as a reader and writer of the language, I have battled with it, especially correcting other peoples’ work as a paid reader/ editor, or just doing it as a professional journalist and writer. This has been my calling, and I am not relenting or tired of playing the gatekeeping role to ensure that common errors of facts, poor grammar or foggy expressions are corrected to avoid ambiguity, at least for the reader or the listener to relish with utmost satisfaction.
Again, never take the reader for granted, I do earnestly warn, time without number. Among the group of contractions or shortened words, roundly misused or toyed with, is the most engaged adjective, ‘its’ often confused with the contraction ‘it’s’, just as the good reference book, the Chambers 21st century dictionary observed. It’s even too common these days to see this error of misspelling showing up now and then, and calls for restrain on the writer, journalist or reporter to thoughtfully differentiate between the adjective ‘its’ from the contraction ‘it’s’ to make sense. Otherwise, the problem of getting it right would persist. As a reminder, the group of shortened words is inexhaustible, if one should plunge deep to unearth them, but a few example would do here to illustrate the fact that contraction of generously used phrases we take for granted are useful when we desire to send short messages to friends and acquaintances, but not so in official circles across board. One can conveniently write and shorten, for example, the sentences, though informal, ‘it’s’ to mean ‘it is’, ‘it has’, ‘it’ll’ with the full expression, ‘it will’, ‘it shall’, ‘it’d’, meaning ‘it had’, ‘it would’, ‘isn’t’ the contraction of ‘is not’, ‘I’ve’ to mean ‘I have’ etc. But don’t make it a habit that at every turn one should contract them.
As I said, you can only shortened the word, if you think it consumes less time, in a friendly communication. Note that frequent use of contractions and abbreviations in official interaction or correspondence, especially with a boss and someone higher than you in rank in most cases is regarded as an insult and a high disregard for the office the person occupies, whether in verbal or written exchange of words. Your boss may keep it to him/herself, but waiting for that opportunity to get back at you. Mind your language otherwise it would hurt you. Even in official quarters, the excessive use of shortened phrases while communicating your ideas to someone higher than you in rank maybe taken as insubordination and show of disrespect to the officer concerned; how about in international relations and people of different backgrounds whose English language is not first or second means of exchange of ideas or opinions, it would amount to nothing to bother such individual or group with unexplained and confusing contractions such as ‘it’s’, ‘isn’t’ and ‘I’ll’ when one could simply and plainly write, ‘it is’, ‘is not’, and ‘I will’.
To demonstrate the import of clear and meaningful writing and avoid confusion, the tangle between the adjective ‘its’ and the shortened phrase ‘it’s’ is a living testimony how the language of contraction, especially used in official quarters can stall clear thinking and comprehension. Even in Nigeria where the official language is English, yet some people mistook the adjective ‘its’ for ‘it’s’, translated or fully spelt ‘it is’. For the benefit of doubt, and for those still thinking otherwise, some bit of explanation on the functional or effective use of the adjective ‘its’ and the contraction ‘it’s’ should clear the confusion and pave the way for the correct employment of the two distinct words. The adjective ‘its’- belonging to it. Something to have gone missing. For example, one can simply write, “its has gone missing”. It could be an object that has been stolen or that someone may have decamped with it, short of using the proper name of the object taken away by unidentified person. One would be correct to write or speak, ‘its has gone missing’. Nigeria’s population is estimated at over 200 million; or that its population is put at over 200 million people. The apostrophe‘s’ is the short form of ‘it is’. Don’t confuse the two phrases ‘its’ and the contraction ‘it’s’, again.
