Shortform
“its” in braille
Written x-s — 3 letters cut to 2 letters of abbreviation, then written in 2 cells. That is 1 cell saved every time the word appears.
dots 1-3-4-6, then dots 2-3-4
Unicode ⠭⠎ — 3 letters in 2 cells
How to recognise it
x-s, and there is no x anywhere in “its”. Together with “itself” it is one of only two shortforms on the list written with a letter the word does not contain.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “its” loses 3 letters — i, t, s — to become xs. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | its | 3 cells |
| Abbreviated | xs | 2 letters |
| Written | 2 cells |
Longer words that keep it
The Shortforms List (Rules of Unified English Braille, Appendix 1) names no longer word that keeps “its”. A longer word that is not on the list is spelled out.
Words that only look like it
This begins with the same letters, is not on the Shortforms List, and is written out in full. “itself” is a shortform of its own.
| Word | In braille | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| itsy | 4 cells |
What these 2 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3-4-6 | the letter x; the word “it” standing alone | |
| 2-3-4 | the letter s; the word “so” standing alone |
In a whole book
In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (26,439 words), this contraction is written 57 times and saves 57 cells. That is 0.17% of everything Grade 2 saves in the book, and ranks it 93rd of the 158 contractions used.
Every one of those is the word “its” itself.
Check your own text
The translator writes “its” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-five.
“its” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: xs in 2 cells, not 3 letters.
