Difference between IT'S and IT IS.

Question

Hi,I have a question about the difference between it's and it is.The other day on this forum, I asked to proofread the writing below. "Revenue management is a significant and permanent issue for our company, and we consider it's important to seek the best solution at all times."    And all of the three replies that I received pointed out, "it's is incorrect," and replaced it with it is.According to any dictionary that I have, I believe "it's" is just simply the shortened form of "it is." But at the same time, because three out of three people corrected the same thing (all of them are native in English), I think there should be some tricky grammar, which I don't k ow.  Could anyone please explain why "it's" is not okay, and what kind of grammar that is.Thank you in advance,  M

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

mitsuwao23"Revenue management is a significant and permanent issue for our company, and we consider it's important to seek the best solution at all times."

I'm a non-native speaker but I'll give you another suggestion:

Revenue management is a significant and permanent issue for our company, and we consider it important to seek the best solution at all times.

In my opinion consider + it is + adjective is wrong in this sentence, perhaps in all sentences. It is and it's have the same meaning. In the sentence above, it is the object of consider. Some people call it a dummy it, some non-native grammarians call it a formal object.

CB

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Hi CB,

Thank you for the reply, but this time I have to disagree with you.

Actually if they (the native speakers) corrected it just like the way you did, I would've been fine with it, but they replaced it with "it is." And if I look up "consider it is" in Cobuild English Dictionary, (I'm using an electronic dictionary so I can do this), I can find this whole phrase used in the result of "No doubt."

I'll quote it:
You use "no doubt" to indicate that you accept the truth of a particular point, but that you do not consider it is important or contradicts the rest of what you are saying.

So, all in all, there must be some kind of grammar that I don't know. In fact, one of the natives said, "if you use it's, perhaps it's importance is proper." (She couldn't give me the reason. that's why I'm asking here)

Thanks,
M

Anonymous · Answer

I HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOKS BEFORE POSTING

(1) I agree with the veteran member's answer.

(2) I most respectfully suggest that the "correct" answer is:

We consider it important to seek the best solution.

(3) Mr. Michael Swan in his widely used Practical English Usage gives a

similar example:

He considered it his duty to call the police.

[As another of my books analyzes this kind of sentence:

He considered it (to call the police) his duty.

That is, "his duty" refers to "it'; "it" refers to "to call the police."]

*****

Your sentence would then be analyzed as:

We consider it (to seek the best solution) important.

If you merely said, "We consider it important," your

listeners would, of course, ask: "Excuse me, but what is

'it' ?"

*****

It is possible that those three native speakers were thinking of

something such as:

We consider that it is/it's important to seek the best solution.

I cannot find a book to support my opinion, but I feel that the

verb "consider" does not fit well here. Compare:

We feel that it is important to seek the best solution.

We think that it is important to seek the best solution.

We suggest that it is important to seek the best solution.

In any case, IF the verb "consider" is correct, then after the word

"that," you would, indeed, need to write "it is" or "it's." Perhaps those

three native speakers were advising you to be more formal. In

writing, contractions (such as "it's") are not considered so elegant as the

full form -- "it is."

*****

Finally, I most respectfully and humbly must point out that

"...it's importance" is a definite NO NO. Of course, the

correct form in modern English is:

ITS importance (no apostrophe, please).

*****

I have just located a reference that might support my view

about the use of "consider" in your sentence. Mr. Eric Partridge's

Usage and Abusage says that "consider" really means:

think over, ponder, meditate. It does not (strictly speaking) mean:

think, believe, hold the opinion.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Hi,

Thank you for taking your time to reply, but I kind of feel the answer is getting off the right track, so let me get my question straight.

a) I am totally fine with the sentence, "We consider it important to seek the best solution." So I need no more explanations for that.

b) But I also think, "We consider it is important to seek the best solution" is okay as well, while ""We consider it's important to seek the best solution" is incorrect.

Two people on this forum pointed it out, and my tutor also did. I of course mentioned the formal style because the sentence was written, not spoken, but her reply was, "no, definitely wrong."

Thanks for your reply, anyway.
M

BarbaraPA · Answer

I have no idea why people changed "it's" to "it is." Semantically they are exactly the same. If one is "definitely wrong" then the other is too.

Yes, writing was for a formal setting often follows the style that contractions are inappropriate. But "definitely wrong"? No.

(I write all the time in various formal settings and use contractions frequently, so I'm not a good one to talk about that.)

Rather than "We consider it is important to seek the best solution" I would suggest "We believe [that] it is important..." I don't know why "believe it is" sounds okay but "consider it is" sounds off. It could be simply convention

Mehtab_memon · Answer

mitsuwao23Hi,I have a question about the difference between it's and it is.The other day on this forum, I asked to proofread the writing below. "Revenue management is a significant and permanent issue for our company, and we consider it's important to seek the best solution at all times."
And all of the three replies that I received pointed out, "it's is incorrect," and replaced it with it is.According to any dictionary that I have, I believe "it's" is just simply the shortened form of "it is." But at the same time, because three out of three people corrected the same thing (all of them are native in English), I think there should be some tricky grammar, which I don't k ow.
Could anyone please explain why "it's" is not okay, and what kind of grammar that is.Thank you in advance,
M

As far as grammetical guidelines that It's only use while speaking and It is only use while writting an Essay,Paragraph,application vice versa. I hope it would highly be acceptable my point.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

many thanks to all of you <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Anonymous · Answer

they correct "it's", because in formal writing we do not use shortened forms, that's all.

we don't write "doesnt' aren't, i'm", but "does not, are not, i am", etc.

Anonymous · Answer

Argee!

Difference between IT'S and IT IS.

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