use Perl

• I think I got at least one out of four (Score:2)

  by autarch (914) on 2002.09.25 18:14 (#13293) Homepage Journal

  I made an effort to remember the difference between its and it's while working on the Masons book, because I didn't want to look like a _total_ moron to the editor/copy editor/etc.
  
  I've never really been able to keep track of the difference before, and I'm sure I'll forget soon, but I think I did a pretty good job while actually writing the book.

  Reply to This

  • Re:I think I got at least one out of four (Score:2)

    by gnat (29)

    Writing the Cookbook was English Bootcamp for me with Tom. I still remember the day when I finally got that vs which. It was like the day when I got contact lenses--that which had been blurry was now clear. (ho ho, I am so funny)

    --Nat
    • Re:I think I got at least one out of four (Score:2)

      by petdance (2468)

      Writing with brian in The Perl Review is a bootcamp for me as far as passive sentences.

      Now, passive sentences are easily seen by me as being wrong. They are edited quickly.

      --
      

      --
      xoa
  • Re:I think I got at least one out of four (Score:1)

    by geoff (2013)

    my 10th grade english teacher put its/it's in a context that I haven't forgotten since:
    
    showing the missing letter in the contraction is (apparently) more important than showing possession.
    • Linguistic Tricks (Score:1)

      by Allison (3003)

      As a further mnemonic, "hers" and "his" aren't "her's" and "he's" (or "him's") either.

      The litmus test: mentally try the sentence with "it is" instead. If it works (it'll stick out like a sore thumb if it's wrong), you want "it's".