itsの意味・使い方・発音

its

英 [ɪts] 美 [ɪts]

its: neuter possessive pronoun; the modern word begins to appear in writing at the end of 16c., from it + genitive/possessive ending 's (q.v.), and "at first commonly written it's, a spelling retained by some to the beginning of the 19c." [OED]. The apostrophe came to be omitted, perhaps because it's already was established as a contraction of it is, or by general habit of omitting apostrophes in personal pronouns (hers, yours, theirs, etc.).

The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else the application of the word to both human and non-human subjects, evidently made users uncomfortable. Restriction of his to the masculine and avoidance of it as a neuter pronoun is evidenced in Middle English, and of it and thereof (as in KJV) were used for the neuter possessive. Also, from c. 1300, simple it was used as a neuter possessive pronoun. But in literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c.

1. Generosity is its own form of power.

気前のいい力を過小評価するな。
米ドラマ『カルタハウス』

2.The council recently drew fire for its intervention in the dispute.: 委員会は最近、この紛争に介入したとして批判されている。

3."Kathleen "was，as its 1892 subtitle asserted，"An Irish Drama ".: 1892年のシナリオの副題で強調されているように、「キャサリン」は「アイルランド演劇」である。; クラブはすでに会議の日付を1月22日、土曜日に変更した。

5.Dense smoke swirled and billowed， its rank fumes choking her.: もうもうと煙が渦巻き、悪臭にむせて息ができなかった。