GRAMMAR TIP – It’s vs. Its
courtesy itsiticecream.com
Ok, folks.
It’s time to have a chat about IT’S and ITS.
And the difference between them.
Because if I had a nickel for every time someone used “it’s” when they were supposed to use “its” I’d have…well, a lot of nickels.
IT’S is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.”
It’s so hard to know how to spell things sometimes.
It’s been a long time since I rode a bike.
A good way to test whether or not you need an apostrophe is if you can replace it’s with “it is” or “it has.”
It is so hard to know how to spell things sometimes.
It has been a long time since I rode a bike.
ITS is a possessive pronoun meaning “belonging to it.”
The dog buried its bone in the yard.
One of the main reasons we get confused with these two 3-letter words is we tend to associate possessives with apostrophes.
That is Bobby’s baseball bat.
The family’s trip to Disneyland was fun.
So, by gummit, when we’re talking our dog’s bone, we so badly want to add an apostrophe.
But please resist the urge.
Because IT’S just not right.