It’s, Its, and Its’

Here’s an example of a confusing contraction/possessive pronoun. Normally, when you make something possessive, you simply add an apostrophe-s, such as “Michelle’s desk.” You can throw that rule out the window when you are talking about the pronoun “it.”

 “It’s” is a contraction that means “it is.” For example — It’s a beautiful day today.

“Its” is a possessive form of the pronoun “it.” For example – The computer and its monitor are in the large box.

“Its’” doesn’t exist and should never be used.

Less vs. Fewer

Today we’re going to tackle when to use “less” and when to use “fewer.” These words are often used interchangeably (especially on TV shows and even by newscasters!) but they are very definitely not interchangeable. If you can count an item you use “fewer” and if you can measure an item you must use “less.” Examples:

•  Sharon asked Wendy to order fewer sandwiches than last time because too many of them were wasted. (You can count the number of sandwiches.)
• Ruxandra experienced less stress in her life after the exam application deadline passed. (You can’t count stress but you can measure it using a scale).

 The most common error I have seen with “fewer” and “less” (and one I have made myself) is as follows: I will be working two less days a week beginning next month. This is incorrect because you can count the number of days. The correct version is: I will be working two fewer days a week beginning next month.

Licence, License, and Licensee

I have had a special request for an explanation of licence, license and licensee so here goes…

 The noun (licence) and verb (license) forms work exactly the same ways for “licens(c)e” at they do for “practis(c)e.” The only real difference is that we use the verb form of license far less frequently than we use the verb form of practise.

 Here are a couple of examples:   Noun – “I just received my new enhanced driver’s licence.” Here the licence is a thing.

                                                Verb – “M licensed James Bond to kill in protection of Queen and country.” Here the license is an action.

 Remember, these rules hold true for the Canadians and British. Americans only use one form of the word.

 I find “licensee” to be a bit of an enigma. “Licensee” is a person or thing and is therefore a noun. In my little brain that means it should be spelled with a second “c” however, according to the Canadian Oxford dictionary, it is spelled l-i-c-e-n-s-e-e. The ubergeeks will note that this is consistent with the use of “licensed” as an adjective (licensed practical nurse, licensed mechanic etc.).

Practise vs. Practice

Today, the Word Nerd brings you a purely Canadian spelling conundrum – practice vs practise.

 “Practice” is a noun (a person, place, thing or idea). The practice of professional forestry is what we regulate.

“Practise” is a verb (an action word). I practise professional forestry.

 Yes, sometimes it can be tricky to decide if the word for which you are looking is a noun or a verb. For example: “I am going to practise” – as in hockey skills – is a verb. But note that “I am going to practice” – as in hockey practice – is a noun. Here are a few tips. First, context is important (it is the only way to tell if you are looking for a noun or a verb in the previous example). Second, the word is a verb if it is conjugated in any shape or form (practised, practising). Finally, always ask yourself if you are talking about a thing (practice rights, soccer practice) and you will soon figure out that you need the noun form. The same rules hold true for licence/license however as we rarely use license in its verb form (the big exception being in James Bond movies where he is “licensed to kill”) it doesn’t tend to trip people up as often.

 If you are still having difficulty, go live in the States. They only use practice with a “c.”

 Word Nerd Bonus: What is the one word that can never take a modifier? “Unique.” Something either is or is not unique. It cannot be more or less unique than anything else.

The emerging publics

The Word Nerd received a special two-part request to cover “publics” and how to make a plural noun (such as publics) possessive.

 First, the use of the word public in its plural form… “The provincial government represents all publics in BC.” In this context, “publics” refers to groups such as First Nations, the local ski club, forest workers etc. – distinct groups that are all open for anyone to become a part of (or in the case of the First Nations, have been recognized by the government as being a distinct society). Personally, I detest this use of the word because it is awkward and almost always causes the reader to come to a stop to try and figure out what you are talking about. Technically it is correct (according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary which gives a definition of public as: “a section of the community having a particular interest” (emphasis mine). A better option is to simply list the groups or use a construction such as “The government represents all of the different groups that make up the public of BC.”

 

Now to tackle the question of possessive plural nouns… This problem is a bit less thorny than “publics.” If a plural noun ends in an “s” (such as publics, professionals etc.) you simply add the apostrophe after the final “s.”  An example is: “The government must represent the publics’ interests.” Or “The professionals’ code of ethics clearly states…” When the plural noun does not end in an “s,” simply add an apostrophe-s at the end of the word. Here’s an example: “Mary and Jo went to the women’s washroom.”

 So, a little apostrophe can change the entire meaning of a sentence: “The public’s interests” means that there is one public and it has multiple interests. “The publics’ interests” means that there is more than one public and more than one interest which may or may not belong to multiple groups.

 As always, the Word Nerd is happy to tackle your requests.

“They” used as a singular pronoun

This topic is one of the Word Nerd’s biggest pet peeves… 

Pronouns (those little words such as “he, she, one, they”) MUST agree with their antecedents (the words – such as a proper noun –  they are replacing). No one would say “Bob brought their book,” but it is very common to see “Officer Smith brought their book” because we don’t know the gender of Officer Smith. The corrected version is “Officer Smith brought his or her book.” I agree that this construction is awkward so if you don’t want to use it, here are my two quick fixes.

 1.       If at all possible pluralize the sentence. All of the police officers brought their books. If you absolutely cannot pluralize the sentence and you can’t find out if Officer Smith is male or female you can resort to…

2.       …using a passive construction. The book was brought by Officer Smith. Passive construction is not preferred (unless you happen to work for the provincial or federal government :-)) so use Fix 1 if at all possible.

Welcome to the Word Nerd

A few months ago I donned a new uniform at work and became the Word Nerd. I felt a need for the Word Nerd to emerge due of the numerous questions about spelling, strange words, and grammar that came to me in my role as the director of communications for a non-profit professional organization.

The Word Nerd sent out a simple weekly e-mail to staff containing a quick tip. It was meant to be a fun way to explain the intricacies of the English language; however, I was soon getting many requests to explain more and more grammar details. The Word Nerd e-mails were passed around to others outside of the office and questions started coming in from these readers. I vowed to start a blog so anyone who needed these tips could find them.

I will try to post at least one tip a week and I welcome all comments and questions. If you have a sticky grammar problem or are confused about certain words, please leave a comment. I’ll do my best to provide an answer. I am certainly not perfect and will probably make a mistake or two along the way but I hope we can learn together.

Yours in good grammar,

The Word Nerd

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