trellis  +  15954 Mon, 15 Dec 03 12:27 PM Hello Paul, I agree with you that the moderators here should be more careful with their posts. Thousands of people come to this site and read the old posts looking for help. They have a right to expect that posts sent by moderators are correct. Please let me know if you ever see any errors in my posts and I will edit them. trellis Joined on Tue, Oct 21 2003 Full Member 397

	hitchhiker  +  15976 Mon, 15 Dec 03 02:13 PM I suppose I was surprised that no-one had corrected two such errors on a site devoted to the English language in a thread specifically about it's. - Forums develop over time and are largely useful in retrospect. They have a right to expect that posts sent by moderators are correct. - Mistakes are made all the time and discussion generally eliminates them as is the case here! Why would someone go to the trouble to pretend to quote an authority to sustain a view which is quite incorrect? - I have no idea why that 'Guest' would post an inaccurate version of the text; nicely noticed though. You must approach any forum / debate / discussion with the realisation that everybody is learning and rarely does one person have all the answers. But we try.. oohh we try Happy Christmas peeps btw: Paul - I hope we see more of you at the forums; this type of constructive criticism and debate is much appreciated here. hitchhiker Joined on Mon, Nov 18 2002 Richmond, UK Senior Member 3,440 "They obstinately persisted in their absence." —HGTG

	Mister Micawber  +  56362 Sat, 20 Nov 04 04:02 PM If I understand your question aright: In the case of " it's " (the contraction for 'it is') the apostrophe represents the elision of one letter, the 'i' of 'is'. In the case of the possessive, no letter is replaced; it is a different function of the apostrophe. In 'the children's toys', 'the child's toys', 'the boy's toys', and 'the boys' toys', no letter has gone missing; the apostrophe is just a possessive marker. Does this answer your question? Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,507 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.' Possessives, Contractions, Apostrophes

	Mike in Japan  +  272825 Wed, 27 Sep 06 01:57 AM  'Board' is a collective noun. It is my understanding that in British English (or International English, as I like to call it), collective nouns can be either singular or plural. Collective nouns Cheers Mike in Japan Joined on Tue, Aug 19 2003 Senior Member 4,588 I do like to be beside the seaside Plurals, Nouns, British English