How to Use It's and Its Correctly

It's a basic grammar and spelling rule you learned in grade school, but the words "it's" (a contraction) and "its" (a possessive pronoun) are often used incorrectly, thanks to that darn little apostrophe. The following tips will help you understand the difference between "it's" and "its" so that you'll always use them properly.

Instructions

1. Understand that the word "it's" is a contraction of two words - "it" and "is" or "it" and "has" - so it requires the use of an apostrophe. Try putting both words in your sentence before using "it's" to see if it makes sense. For example, the sentence "The dog chased its ball" simply wouldn't make sense as "The dog chased it is ball."

2. Know that the rule of using an apostrophe to show possessive tense doesn't apply when dealing with a pronoun like "it." Many people mistakenly make plural words possessive by inserting an apostrophe when they see a word ending in "s." "Its," like the possessive pronouns "yours," "ours," "his," "hers" and "theirs," doesn't require an apostrophe to form the possessive.

3. Remember that a possessive pronoun like "its" modifies the sentence's main noun so you don't have repeat the noun twice in a sentence. For example, in the sentence "The bird sat on its nest," the word "its" refers back to the "bird." You wouldn't want to say "The bird sat on the bird's nest" because it requires unnecessary words and just doesn't sound or look right.

4. Look at the other words in your sentence if you are still stuck. If the word that comes after "its" or "it's" is a noun, you probably need to use "its." If an adjective comes after the word in question, you will probably want to use "it's." This is not always the case, but it's true most of the time.