which its = "whose"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I clearly recall a "that's" or two in a student theme, but only from one
student. It was almost precisely thirty years ago.

However, when pressed to fill in the blank in "This is an idea _______ time
has come," a number of students used "that's".  (ISTR that "whose"
responses were only a notable minority.)

Ordinarily, I think they'd avoid the construction entirely.

JL


On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 8:45 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: which its = "whose"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Because I'm Commander Obvious, is there thinking that this construction
> is influenced by the dictum to use "who" only for referents that are
> persons? Are you seeing any "that's"?
>
> ---Amy West
>
> (I will confess to preferring "who" over "that" for the relative pron.
> for persons just as a point of style, AND further confess to making that
> comment on students' papers, but I do note that it's a point of style,
> not "grammar.")
>
> On 6/14/14, 12:03 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > Date:    Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:36:15 -0400
> > From:    Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: which its = "whose"
> >
> > Long ago I mentioned the difficulty even  grad students in English had 30
> > years ago with "whose" as a subordinating conjunction after something not
> > human, as in "an idea whose time has come." (Some online grammarians now
> > prefer the counter-rational "subordinate conjunction." Right.)
> >
> > One of the grotesque conjunctions the studes used was "which's."  Another
> > was the perhaps genetically identical "which its."
> >
> > Now grownups use it:
> >
> >
> http://cnn.org/2014/06/11/opinion/ben-ghiat-world-war-one/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
> >
> >
> > "the Submarine was introduced in the 19th Century by the French called
> the
> > Plongeur, Which its designs were used by the Confederates to build the
> H.L.
> > Hunley"
> >
> > JL
>
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