different between its vs they

English

Alternative forms

• it's (possessive form, now nonstandard)

Etymology

Equivalent to it +? -'s. From the earlier form it's (it +? 's), which is now considered nonstandard. Began to displace his as the possessive of the neuter pronoun in the Middle English period; had fully displaced it by the 1700s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ts/
• Rhymes: -?ts
• Homophone: it's

Determiner

its

1. Belonging to it. [from 16th c.]
   • 1751, G. Burnett, trans. Thomas More, Utopia:

     since I have been at the Pains to write it, if he consents to it's being published I will follow my Friend's Advice, and chiefly yours.

   • 1763, Authorized King James Version of the Bible, Oxford Standard Text, Leviticus 25:5:

     That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. (originally "of it own accord" in the 1611 first edition)

   • 1989, Jasper Becker and John Gittings, The Guardian, 5 Jun 1989:

     The Chinese government is at war with its own people.

Derived terms

• itsself

Translations

Contraction

its

1. Misspelling of it's.

Pronoun

its

1. The one (or ones) belonging to it. [from 17th c.]
   • 1645, Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton, Letter to Ferdinando Fairfax, 6 February 1645:

     [...] both Houses have resolved to rob the North of a good friend of its and yours.

   • 2007 — Ian Austen, "Canadian Court Opens Up eBay Data to Tax Agency", New York Times, October 1, 2007:

     EBay Canada argued in court that the data sought by tax collectors was not its to give.

   • 1917 — Charles Henry Taylor, History of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago Vol.2 p.1259:

     ...the Board of Trade of Chicago can at least feel that it has played its part manfully and patriotically, and that no act of its has stood in the way of National victory.

Usage notes

• In practice, its is commonly used as a determiner before a noun, but its use as a solo pronoun is generally avoided.
• Its is now distinguished from it's (a contraction of "it is" or "it has"). For example, It's going to rain is equivalent to It is going to rain, and It's been raining for hours is equivalent to It has been raining for hours. However, the two are commonly confused, and using its where there should be it's (or vice versa) is a common mistake in written English.
• Like it, its is usually avoided when referring to humans. Its is commonly used with animals when the gender is unknown or unimportant. With humans, person is used for a person whose gender is unknown or to refer to something that could be possessed by either gender, body or corpse is often used to refer to a dead person, and figure, shape, and silhouette are often used to refer to what someone sees as a person but can not see clearly enough to determine an identity or gender, e.g. The figure moved behind a bush, but Josh could see its shadow from the moonlight.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:its.

Translations

Noun

its

1. plural of it

See also

• their

References

Anagrams

• 'tis, -ist, IST, Ist, SIT, STI, Sit, TIS, TIs, is't, ist, sit, tis

Kalasha

Noun

its

1. Alternative spelling of i??

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: th?, IPA^(key): /ðe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English thei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Old English h?e — which vowel changes had left indistinct from h? (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi.

The Norse term (whence also Icelandic þeir (“they”), Faroese teir (“they”), Swedish de (“they”), Norwegian Nynorsk dei (“they”)) is from Proto-Germanic *þai (“those”) (from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”)), whence also Old English þ? (“those”) (whence obsolete English tho), Scots thae, thai, thay (“they; those”).

The origin of the determiner they (“the, those”) is unclear. The OED, English Dialect Dictionary and Middle English Dictionary define it and its Middle English predecessor thei as a demonstrative determiner or adjective meaning "those" or "the". This could be a continuation of the use of the English pronoun they's Old Norse etymon þeir as a demonstrative meaning "those", but the OED and EDD say it is limited to southern, especially southwestern, England, specifically outside the region of Norse contact.

Pronoun

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or, singular, themself)

1. (the third-person plural) A group of people, animals, plants, or objects previously mentioned. [since the 1200s]
   • 2010, Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida ?ISBN, page 9:

     There is no reason to be scared of iguanas. They do not attack humans.

2. (the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender, but not if previously named and identified as male or female. [since the 1300s]

   • Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman (which haue committed that wicked thing) vnto thy gates, euen that man, or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die.

   • 2008, Michelle Obama, quoted in Lisa Rogak, Michelle Obama in Her Own Words, New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. ?ISBN, page 18:

     One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.

   • 2014, Ivan E. Coyote, Rae Spoon, Gender Failure ?ISBN

     The boycott, led by Elisha Lim, of a Toronto gay and lesbian newspaper after it refused to use their preferred pronoun ["they"], citing grammar considerations, inspired me.

   • 2015 April, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (mayor of Baltimore), commenting on the death of Freddie Gray:

     I'm angry that we're here again, that we have had to tell another mother that their child is dead.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:they.
3. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.

Usage notes

• (singular pronoun): Usage of they as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795, to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896. Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors compare use of singular they to widespread use of singular you instead of thou. See Wikipedia's article on singular they for more; see also the usage notes about themself. (Compare he.)
• (singular pronoun): Even when used as a singular pronoun, verb conjugations for singular they are the same as for plural they.
• (singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. See citations.
• (singular pronoun): Infrequently, they is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to as it. See citations.
• (indefinite pronoun): One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general, whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). "You" may also be used to refer to people in general.

  They say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

  One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

  You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Alternative forms

• (rare, dialect or eye dialect:) dey (th-stopping dialects), thay, theye (archaic), thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Translations

See also

• other attested third-person singular pronouns
• theirselves, theirself (nonstandard)

Determiner

they

1. (now Southern England dialect or nonstandard) The, those. [from 14th c.]
   • 1878, Louis John Jennings, Field Paths and Green Lanes, quoting an old East Sussex man:

     "They rooks as you see [...] only coom a few year agoo."

   • 1883 Judy, or the London serio-comic journal, volume 33 (Harvard University) [2]:

     Darn'd if they Cockney Chaps can zee there worn't nort but lie in him.

   • 1895, Under the Chilterns: A Story of English Village Life:

     page 21: "But you spile [spoil] they gals - they won't be for no good, they won't."

     page 30: "'Twas all about they rewks [rooks]," he sobbed.

     page 54: "mucking the place up with they weeds"

   • 1901, Gwendoline Keats (of Devon), Tales of Dunstáble Weir, page 55:

     "Bodies and souls," she cried, "if I didn't reckon to have hidden they boots safe from un in the stick-rick." "Off wi' they tight-wasted shoes o' yours, Martha."

2. (US dialects, including African-American Vernacular) Their. [from 19th c.]
   • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright 2016, p. 175:

     He guessed one of the well-off people living in these houses must have took a shine to Cody and decided how he'd look good stuck up on they roof.

Alternative forms

• (rare, dialect or eye dialect:) the; thay, thaay (Gloucestershire, Berkshire, possibly archaic)

Etymology 2

From earlier the'e, from there.

Pronoun

they

1. (US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be). [from 19th c.]
   • 1889, James Whitcomb Riley, Pipes o' Pan:

     They’s music in the twitter of the bluebird and the jay.

   • 2000, Janice Giles, Hill Man, page 58:

     They ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

   • 2008, Christian Carvajal, Lightfall, page 82:

     But they ain’t nothin’ in there you didn’t already have.

   • 2010, Alessandro Portelli, They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History, page 207:

     Well, they’s a lot of ‘em didn’t survive, if you believe me.

References

Anagrams

• hyte, thye, ythe

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

they

1. Alternative form of þei (“they”)

Etymology 2

Determiner

they

1. Alternative form of þi (“thy”)

Etymology 3

Pronoun

they

1. Alternative form of þe (“thee”)

Etymology 4

Noun

they (plural þeies)

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“thigh”)

Etymology 5

Adverb

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“though”)

Conjunction

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“though”)

Etymology 6

Numeral

they

1. Alternative spelling of þey (“two”)

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronoun

they

1. they