Confused? Some common sense rules make it much easier to make the right choice.

Rule #1: Never use its’. You will probably never have occasion to use such a word and it would be best to strike it from your vocabulary.

It's is a contraction and short for it is or sometimes for it has.

Its is a possessive pronoun and means something like that which belongs to it, where it stands for an object that has been previously defined.

Rule #2: If you can replace the word with “it is” or “it has”, use it's. Otherwise, it's always its.

A handy example of these rules from The Craig Web Experience: It's "Its"! is:

Example: “Nothing can take it's place” can't be right, because “Nothing can take it is place” is nonsense. You probably mean “Nothing can take its place”.

Example: “It's not easy being green”. Well, “It is not easy” is right, so the original sentence is okay.

Hope that helps!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

What's so wierd about this spelling rule is that when it's incorrect, we can get really confused as to the meaning of the sentence. So it's incredibly important to get it right, even tho we don't a huge percent of the time.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

I definitely appreciate this reminder - and it really is (it's ?? ) so much more important to be aware of these little rules in our communications. I'll be honest and say that I am positive I get these mixed up all the time - without even realizing it.
From now on I'll refer back to this post each time the question comes up - and eventually it will stick!

Thanks Kate

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I admit I also am guilty of misusing this word, ! Well, no excuse for doing so from now on!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

How confusing. When does its' get used? I always thought it was possessive: "that belongs to its' head" or something like that?

Erin, the only time its' makes sense is when you have a bunch of entities called it and when referencing their collective passion for basketball (for instance) you would say, the its' passion for basketball.
Since there's no such thing as a group of its, really, its' is not used.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

Originally Posted by asthemoonclimbs

Erin, the only time its' makes sense is when you have a bunch of entities called it and when referencing their collective passion for basketball (for instance) you would say, the its' passion for basketball. Since there's no such thing as a group of its, really, its' is not used.

Great explanation, thanks Mary!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance