Do you often confuse "its" with "it's"? Is it something that drives you crazy (or drives your teachers crazy)? To eliminate this error from your writing, let's brush up on the differences between "its" and "it's". Then, practice trying to use the two words correctly in some sample sentences.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Using It's and Its Correctly in a Sentence
Step 1. Use "its" to indicate possession
When the pronoun is "it", the possessive form is "its". Like the possessive determinants "hers" and "his", "its" does not need an apostrophe to indicate possession. Write "its" to describe something that belongs to, or is part of, an animal, plant, or inanimate object. Here are some examples:
- My oak tree loses its leaves in autumn -> "My oak loses its his leaves in autumn ";
- My neighbor's cat never stays in its own yard -> "My neighbor's cat never stays in the his courtyard";
- That bottle of wine is cheap, but it has its pluses -> "That bottle of wine is cheap, but it has i his benefits";
- Google needs to update its privacy policy -> "Google needs to update the her privacy policy ".
Step 2. Add an apostrophe when "It's" is the short form of "it is" or "it has"
Here are some examples:
- " It's a nice day "- (it is)
- " It's been a nice day "- (it has)
- "Let's see that movie: I hear it's amazing - (it is)
Step 3. Try replacing them to verify
If you read a sentence and aren't sure which form is most appropriate, try substituting them. If you can replace "it's" or "its" with "it is" or "it has", you should add the apostrophe ("it's").
- Let's take for example this sentence: "The tire had lost _ air"
- Replace the blank with "it is" or "it has": "The tire had lost it is air"> clearly wrong
- The sentence should therefore be: "The tire had lost its air. "Air belonged to the wheel, so we use the possessive form" its ".
- Remember, if you can't replace "it's" with "it is" or "it has", using the apostrophe would be a mistake.
Part 2 of 2: Practice Using the Two Forms Correctly in a Sentence
Step 1. Look at the example
You will need to fill in the blank with either "its" or "it's". "The museum needs to update _ online schedule for summer".
Step 2. Determine if you should complete the sentence with "its" or "it's"
- Do the expressions "it is" or "it has" written in white space make sense of the sentence? The museum needs to update it is online schedule for summer. Obviously, the answer is no.
- Can you use "its" to refer to something that belongs to an inanimate object? Yes, because the "online program" belongs to the museum. The right answer is: The museum needs to update its online schedule for summer.
Step 3. Try the same method with the following sentence:
"_ hard to tell the difference between those shades of green".
- Do the expressions "it is" or "it has" make sense of the sentence? It is hard to tell the difference between those shades of green.
- The expression "it is" makes perfect sense to the sentence, so there is no need to go any further with the questions. The correct answer, therefore, is: It's hard to tell the difference between those shades of green.
Advice
- Another tip for figuring out if you should use "its" in a sentence is to try replacing "its" with "his" or "her". If the resulting sentence makes more or less sense, then you know you should use "its".
- For more exercises, try taking online quizzes to test your ability to distinguish "its" versus "it's". You can find more quizzes online using a search engine appropriately, such as Google or Bing.
