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I often have seen using "meaning of something". So I understood I have to use "meaning of", but I saw following sentence:

Its meaning is "Really?"

I am thinking why does the sentence use "its meaning"? What is the difference between "its meaning" and "meaning of it"?

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  • I would just say It means
    – user178049
    Dec 3, 2016 at 4:22
  • No difference, but its is more common and idiomatic.
    – Khan
    Dec 3, 2016 at 5:22

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"Its" is the possessive form of the personal pronoun "it". You can say "meaning of something", but it's unusual or rare to use the preposition "of" in front of a personal pronoun. Instead, you use the possessive form. For example:

Instead of saying "I don't know the meaning of it", you say "I don't know its meaning". The use of "its" is far more common and idiomatic.

Its meaning is "really".

In this sentence, "its meaning" is the subject.

The sentence is grammatical, but "It means really" is more common.

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