Alien viewpoint, does it change grammatical context?

[ErikB]

When describing an animal and either the reasoning or physiology or a possession or lair the standard use of the word "its" is "i t s." No comma.

For example:

"The creature was there. Its lair cluttered with the remains of hundreds of bold unfortunates."

If an alien looked on humans as simple speaking animals and were to ask another alien; "What is its name?" Would this be the correct context for the usage or should it be, "What is it's name?"

 

[The Judge]

I'm not sure why you think it should change, just because it comes when aliens talking -- it's a grammatical point, not a linguistic one or a matter of accent. So yes, it's "its name".

"Its" isn't just for animals, it's for anything where you need the possessive of "it", so it covers inanimate objects as well as creatures.



(For anyone popping in here who is unsure of it's -v- its, there are some posts about it in The Toolbox, but basically, "its" = possessive, and "it's" is a contraction of "it is".)

 

[Ursa major]

When a PoV character starts thinking of an alien not as an it, but as a person, it lets the reader know that they've had a change of mind (a possibly significant one). When a non-PoV character starts talking about an alien not as an it, but as a person**, it lets the reader know that they may have had a change of mind or, possibly, that others around*** them have.

The way that you write this can either be used to signpost things that are made more explicit later, or to help to reinforce already revealed changes in attitude.


** - Whether 'he' and 'she' are applicable (or all that is required) depends on the nature, and perhaps the culture, of the aliens.

*** - That is, they change what they're saying because, for various reasons, they want to keep their true thoughts secret.

 

[ErikB]

Thank you both! Judge I'll check that out. Much appreciated! Thank you Ursa!

I knew the contraction it's for it is, but could have sworn I'd seen it (perhaps misused) in a passive context for people. At any rate got confused this morning on the grammatical point.

Cheers!