grammar tip

[low_delta]

A lot of people seem to have trouble remembering which cases to use "its" and "it's."

It's is a contraction of it is, while its is possessive.

Is there an easy way to remember this, or a rule to apply? Try this...

You can usually spell "yours," "theirs" and "ours" right, right? Possessive, no apostrophe. "His," "hers". Possessive pronouns don't have apostrophes.

I bet you had the same problem with who's and whose, didn't you?

Comments

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're just trying to type out a simple message on their stupid smartphone with the tiny sensitive keys that produce crazy spellings, and they're ready to rip out their hair, so if the wrong "it's" gets out there, they don't care anymore out of exasperation. Or they don't notice that the wrong version just flew off their fingers in the middle of a thought. These are just guesses since I'm perfect.

I've had trouble with the Grammar & Spelling Police for over a decade here. The charge: Guilty of Stupidness. Reality: Something else.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I don't much care whether or why they make the mistake. People have mentioned having trouble deciding on the correct word, and I thought I could help.

[mellary4.livejournal.com]

I am guilty of that in spades. I'm sure I learned the it's and its thing at some point in school but my brain apparently rejected it :) I never scored very high in grammar, spelling, and punctuation but made up for it in writing, and reading comprehension. I think it's because writing and reading were more fun and the other was more like work to me.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we need some grammar police around here, thank you!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm not the grammar police! Consider me a driving instructor.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Even better. :)

[taxchick.livejournal.com]

Yep, knew that! A lot of people have trouble with mixing up plural and possessive altogether. To me it's a no-brainer, but I've always been good at that kind of stuff.

That's a good explanation on how to remember the pronoun usage.

[whathisname.livejournal.com]

Your sew wright.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Thank you for not adding an apostrophe to the possessive.

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

Right alongside who's/whose

I don't seem to be bothered by misuse though.

Sometimes I misstype it's/its and who's/whose and (hopefully) catch it and correct it later while rereading. I certainly "know better" and it bothers me when *I've* made the error.