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Everyone agrees that:

Semantically "It's not" and "It isn't" mean the same thing: "It is not".

No doubt here. See: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110704115859AAmQmxZ

The reason why I'm asking is because Google is suggesting one way regardless the fact the one other one has more hits, see: "that isn't my problem" and "that's not my problem"

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In general: which one is more common and what examples where it makes difference come to your mind?

Mars Robertson
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    Please refer to this question “It isn't” vs. “it's not”. Your question appears to be a duplicate of the earlier question and is likely to be closed unless you have a specific issue not addressed by the earlier question. If so, please revise your question accordingly. – TrevorD Jul 19 '13 at 10:46
  • Please clarify your question (in the light of my above comment). The title says "It isn't v. It's not". Your question says "that isn't v. that's not". – TrevorD Jul 19 '13 at 11:08
  • Yeah, it's a duplicate. I was mostly concerned about Google suggestion tool --> why does it recommend one way over another? – Mars Robertson Jul 19 '13 at 11:20
  • I guess that's a question for Google and analysis of the results. I don't know how accurate their initial 'hits counter' is. Also, I note that the first page of one of the lists has multiple references to the lyrics of a particular song. Things like that can, of course, skew hit search results. – TrevorD Jul 19 '13 at 12:25

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I would feel "That isn't my problem" tends to suggest "My problem is a different one" slightly more than "That's not my problem" which tends to suggest "That is somebody else's problem".

The two clearly overlap.

Henry
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  • When speaking, the two meanings can conveyed quite clearly using either phrasing by which words you stress. – Peter Shor Jul 19 '13 at 12:11
  • @Peter - Sometimes spoken stress may not help: "That's not my problem" and "That's not my problem" seem clearer to me than "That's not my problem" – Henry Jul 19 '13 at 14:19