Grammar Question: At Paul Mason.....

[meesterperfect]

The old Paul Mason **** slogan, " At Paul Mason, we will sell no **** before its time", made famous by Orson Welles.
Question: is the word " its " referring to the **** or to the time ?
Whats your opinion? We'd like to know.

 

[Funkwerkz]

****, of course.

 

[meesterperfect]

****, of course.

why?

 

[Torre82]

The time. The time defines the ****. **** is a utilitarian sort of a thing..

Furthermore, in keeping with clever corporate thinktanks.. I dont believe the obvious answer is the right one in many cases. Whether my impression of the statement is right by their definition or not.. the time demands its own ****. Sometimes a merlot, sometimes a zinfandel. One doesnt know until that time is reached. Right now? Definitely a riesling. Not that napa valley ****, none of that french trash.. I want the pure german kind. The soil just .. imparts a certain taste.

Pardon my moment. I just love ****. If only **** had the same respect and was so easily discerned by it's appearance and manufacturer. ::shrug::

Alas, **** is ****.

Hm. ::downs some ******* and burgundy:: Beggars cant be choosers ATM.

 

[Funkwerkz]

At Paul Mason, we will sell no **** before its time.

Let's replace its with the time. At Paul Mason, we will sell no **** before time's time.

It does not make any sense to me. It's like "time of time".

You need to keep **** for a while before serving or selling. I thought in this way. Grape juice becomes **** after some process and time which is also described in the original sentence. When the ****'s serving time is reached, Paul Mason is ready to sell the ****.

At Paul Mason, we will sell no **** before ****'s time.

 

[tartanterrier]

The **** beacause you can't buy it until it's time.I have this dilenma everyday

 

[jumbo_jim]

It make sso much more sense grammatcially for 'it' to mean ****

 

[BlueBalls]

Errrrrr.................................................................................................:dunno:

 

[gunslingingbird]

Oh, boy, a grammar question for the grammar tutor!

The 'its' refers to the ****. It is used as a possessive pronoun, just as 'my' or 'your'. If you were to make the subject of the sentence plural, it would be "At Paul Mason, we will sell no wines before their time." The only way that it could refer to the time is if it were a contraction of 'it' and 'is', in which case the sentence would be "At Paul Mason, we will sell no **** before it's time."

 

[BPenny]

GSB - Almost completely correct. However: " wines' ".

 

[Ballsdeepz]

Are you going to make a calculus thread after this?

 

[Funkwerkz]

Wines? Can you count wines or the bottles?! lol I'm spoiling everything.

 

[neighborboy]

Sounds to me like they are talking about aging the ****. They are promising not to sell the **** too young.

 

[Jagger69]

Must be pretty slow down in Medellin today....

The correct answer, of course, is the ****. GSB got it right.....the only other option would be the meaning "....no **** before it is time", which, as a contraction, would be spelled with an apostrophe...."it's".

The misuse of this possessive/contraction version of very similar words is extremely common everywhere you go if you pay attention to it. Interestingly, I find that people tend to misuse the contraction spelling when the intended usage is to indicate plural, not possessive.....as in "All computer's on sale this week" or something similar. Drives me nuts.

 

[mongo18]

I'm surprised it took so many posts to get there, but GSB and Jagger nailed it, it's obvious by the placement of the apostrophe. I believe the possessive apostrophe of its' becomes optional when the subject is an inanimate object.

 

[meesterperfect]

I'm surprised it took so many posts to get there, but GSB and Jagger nailed it, it's obvious by the placement of the apostrophe. I believe the possessive apostrophe of its' becomes optional when the subject is an inanimate object.

Exactly, its the apostrophe, or lack of, that gives the meaning.
it's = time
its = ****.

 

[neighborboy]

I'm surprised it took so many posts to get there, but GSB and Jagger nailed it, it's obvious by the placement of the apostrophe. I believe the possessive apostrophe of its' becomes optional when the subject is an inanimate object.

There is no such thing as its'
it's = it is
its = possessive

 

[YMIHERE]

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. So it must be the ****.

 

[mongo18]

There is no such thing as its'
it's = it is
its = possessive

I would argue that "its'" is possible when discussing the possessive of a sexless object personified, or a transvestite.

 

[meesterperfect]

I would argue that "its'" is possible when discussing the possessive of a sexless object personified, or a transvestite.

its hers his ours theirs - possevive pronouns
its is genderless, correct.