How to Determine When to Use Its Vs.. It's

The words its and it's are commonly confused. To clear up your confusion, read this article which will explain the correct usage of each word.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Use it's - with an apostrophe in the context of 'it is'. For example:
   "It's raining cats and dogs!" or "It's easy to do a spelling and grammar check before publishing your eHow article!"

2. Use its - without an apostrophe when showing possession. For example:
   "The dog is limping because it hurt its paw." or "The bear went into its den." or "The mouse ate its cheese quickly."

3. Now the hard part... how do you remember this? Well, you can either memorize this information, if necessary by inventing a mnemonic device for yourself to help you remember, or you can just use the spell check tool within your word processing program. Most spell checkers also check for grammar and word usage. For commonly confused words the program will give you explanations and examples of correct word usage.

Tips & Warnings

• Always edit anything you write for spelling, grammar and punctuation. If you make a lot of errors in writing conventions, your content may be misunderstood. Additionally if you have lots of errors in grammar, spelling and word usage, you will sound less intelligent, causing the reader to doubt the validity or your content!

Resources

• APA Style FAQ's

[sunshine11219]

on 12/8/2008 good tips

[georgelarson]

on 12/8/2008 Always good to know good grammer. Thanks.

[ElizabethLeigh]

on 12/8/2008 Thanks! This is a good reminder!

[jamaclassics]

on 12/8/2008 I remember it's as a contraction for it is. I still spell check tho'. Thanks for a good article!