Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

ducie1

Member Since

February 11, 2011

Total number of comments

2

Total number of votes received

18

Bio

Latest Comments

Substantial vs. substantive

  • February 13, 2011, 6:48pm

It seems the British put the apostrophe in where Americans do not. It looks odd (=wrong) to us, but that’s the way they are brought up. They’re not going to change, so get used to it.

Sorry, Stan I teach English and the only reason you will see an apostrophe in "its" (as a possessive pronoun) in Britain or US is where someone has made an error. British English and American English both use the same word !

I don't have to "get used to it" but the person who makes this elementary error has to get used to appearing poorly educated.

Substantial vs. substantive

  • February 11, 2011, 1:27am

"It's usage in law is a bit vaguely defined, but I think it's accurate to say that, if nothing else, anything that is "substantive" is "not procedural.

OH, JONES, HOW COULD YOU ? "It's usage" !!!!!!" - is this as in "IT IS USAGE" because if you are referring to the possessive pronoun "ITS" then why are you using an apostrophe? Your erudite comments are wrecked by this ignorance...