A little grammar lesson for everyone today.
While writing and editing my book, I kept bumping into a conflict in trying to decide between “its” and “it’s.”
I kept forgetting which was the correct usage of each word. (Here’s to hoping I caught and corrected all the instances within the book! :-))
So as a reminder for me and everyone else, here’s a few rules of thumb…
It’s is a contraction for it is or it has.
Its is a possessive pronoun meaning, more or less, of it or belonging to it.
Also, there’s no such word as its’.
Stormloader offers a couple simple tests that were super handy for me in the editing process ::
If you can replace it’s in your sentence with it is or it has, then your word is it’s; otherwise, your word is its.
Its is the neuter version of his and her. Try plugging her into your sentence where you think its belongs. If the sentence still works grammatically (if not logically) then your word is indeed its.
So there you have it. I hope it’s been helpful.
