its vs. it's

by AnnaLisa Michalski

originally published in the ezine-turned-blog Word-wise, 3/15/09

The apostrophe can be confusing in even the best of circumstances (witness the News Notes story at right), but the way it works in its vs. it's breaks the usual rules. As a result, this is possibly the single most common usage error in all of English.

Normally, an apostrophe is used in one of two ways:*

to show possession: the book of Arnold --> Arnold's book

to show where a word part has been left out in a contraction: do not --> don't

But the word it, when made possessive, can't take on the usual possessive apostrophe. If it did, it would look exactly the same as the contraction of "it is" or "it has." Its is the oddball result.

The best way to fix this error is to be extra vigilant about not making it. When writing the word, ask yourself whether the two words it is or it has would say the same thing. If so, you need an apostrophe.

Test your skill. Which of the words is correct in these examples?

The dog sprang from the floor and began to chase --- tail.
--- been twenty-five years since I met the Jones family.
--- popular history indicates this building was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
The delicate ship model was damaged when --- shelf collapsed.
The accident was not her fault; --- not right her insurance was canceled.

Answers: Its (possessive) is correct for 1, 3, and 4. It's (contraction) is correct for 2 and 5.

*There is a third use also, when individual letters are pluralized, but it's relatively rare and irrelevant to the scope of this tip.