Re: It's vs. it is

David Peterson wrote:
>
>     I see yet another interesting twist.
>     What would happen if the words "too" and "on" in your asterisked
>sentences were nouns?  Then "Martin's" would be a possessive.  Consider:
>     "Andrea's leaving for Rome on Saturday" vs. "Andrea's leaving for Rome
>on
>Saturday is good for her job, but bad for her relationship".
>     Granted, you'd probably leave out the "for Rome on Saturday" in
>sentence
>two, but I left it for comparison.  So, could it be that you can't contract
>when a verb isn't next to it?  So, just auxilliars, like someone said?
>Well,
>and in sentences where "to be" is the main verb?
Your twist, of course applies to the 3rd sg. "I'm leaving for Rome on
Saturday" won't easily be confused with "My leaving for Rome on Saturday".
Hm, what about this?

Andrea's leaving for Rome on Saturday, and I'm on Sunday.

To my ears, that's perfectly OK, but since I'm not a native speaker my
idiomatic sensitivity may be somewhat lax. Now, try this:

Andrea's leaving for Rome on Saturday and my on Sunday will be good for our
careers.

Better interpret the first bit correctly at first try, or your brain'll
warp!

                                                           Andreas
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