Diabetes and it's complications

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James Hogg - 22 May 2009 11:47 GMT

Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
journal published by Elsevier (of recent "obviating" fame).

http://tinyurl.com/pmntto

This article was in the list of references in an article I'm
editing. I had to check to make sure that the title was properly
quoted. I'm sorely tempted to insert a [sic].

In the text of the article they manage to get "its" right.

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James

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 22 May 2009 13:26 GMT

>Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
>an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
>In the text of the article they manage to get "its" right.

It's wrong but only because it is not normally used. "It's" in the title
is a regularly formed possessive form of "It" - take it and append "'s".

A greengrocer's apostrophe 'tain't.

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Peter Groves - 22 May 2009 14:17 GMT

>>Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
>>an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> It's wrong but only because it is not normally used. "It's" in the title
> is a regularly formed possessive form of "It" - take it and append "'s".

But this is nonsense: the rule applies to nouns, not pronouns. "I's apples,
you's apples, he's apples, she's apples, it's apples".

Peter Groves

> A greengrocer's apostrophe 'tain't.

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 22 May 2009 15:31 GMT

>>>Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
>>>an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>But this is nonsense: the rule applies to nouns, not pronouns. "I's apples,
>you's apples, he's apples, she's apples, it's apples".

I have a feeling that I've met one or two of those in dialect.

The indefinite pronouns all take possessive apostrophes. For example the
"personal" indefinite pronouns:

anybody's
anyone's
everybody's
everyone's
no one's
nobody's
one's
somebody's
someone's

I stick with my statement that "It's" is a regularly formed possessive
form of "It". I am not suggesting that anyone should use it. My point is
that it is a different category of error from that in which "apple" is
pluralised as "apple's".

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Default User - 22 May 2009 20:14 GMT

> The indefinite pronouns all take possessive apostrophes. For example
> the "personal" indefinite pronouns:

But "it" isn't an indefinite pronoun.

Brian

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Mike Mooney - 22 May 2009 14:31 GMT

On 22 May, 13:26, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net>
wrote:

> >Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
> >an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> A greengrocer's apostrophe 'tain't.

Not quite sure what you're getting at there, Peter.

At a stretch, it could be a legitimate "it is":

Diabetes and it's complications - cancer and it's curtains.

I'm sure that's not what they meant though!

Mike M

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James Hogg - 22 May 2009 15:20 GMT

>>Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
>>an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>A greengrocer's apostrophe 'tain't.

No, it's clearly a diabetologist's apostrophe.

The article ends with this conclusion:

"It is therefore important to have qualitative and effective
diabetes care." Has anybody seen this use of "qualitative" to
mean "good-quality" before?

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James

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 22 May 2009 15:35 GMT

>>>Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
>>>an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>diabetes care." Has anybody seen this use of "qualitative" to
>mean "good-quality" before?

Never, but we are quite accustomed to seeing "effective" to mean "having
a good effect".

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Athel Cornish-Bowden - 22 May 2009 17:18 GMT

> Yes, the subject header is an exact quotation from the title of
> an article in "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice", a
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> In the text of the article they manage to get "its" right.

Swedish authors, however. Their English is a lot better than my
Swedish. (Each time I've read the whole title I've misread "county" as
"country" and wondered how many Swedish countries there are.)

If I were editing this article I'd be tempted to correct it silently. I
wouldn't sic it unless I wanted to be nasty. (For example in quoting
someone who obeyed Skitt's law while making a silly comment about
something I'd written I might add a [sic]).

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athel

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

Diabetes and it's complications