"Its": It's a Special Exception - The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

Whoever said, “Rules are made to be broken” may have been thinking of the words “its” and “it’s.” These two tiny words seem to be the victims of more confusion and grammar missteps than any others in the English language.  It’s that pesky apostrophe – or the lack thereof – that has been the downfall of many a writer.  I am planning to write an entire blog post on the poor, misunderstood apostrophe at a later date, but the “it’s/its” thing just bugs me so much that I decided to spotlight it in its very own post.

For now, suffice it to say that the main reasons to use an apostrophe are: (1) to show possession (e.g., “Mary’s coat is red.”); or (2) to indicate a contraction (something being left out of a word).  But the apostrophe has mysteriously abandoned little “it” when it comes to the possessive, making it an exception to (1) above.  I have a theory on how the possessive “its” became a maverick, but I’ll save that for another time.  Meanwhile, here is the “it” rule:

It’s = It is (or “it has,” as in “It’s been a long time.”)
Its = Belonging to it

If you reread the opening paragraph of this post, you will see that I have used both “it’s” and “its” in the context of sentences, to help illustrate the difference.  In the third sentence, I wrote, “It’s that pesky apostrophe…”  Substitute the “it’s” with “it is,” and the sentence still makes sense.  Then, in the last sentence of that paragraph, I wrote, “…I decided to spotlight it in its very own post.”  In that case, I am saying that the post belongs to “it.”

TIPS & TRICKS:

Here are a couple of ways to help you remember the “it” rule:

1.  “Its” is very self-possessed.  In other words, “its” without an apostrophe is possessive. It has all it needs without an apostrophe.  

2. Am I leaving anything out?  If you are, then you need to fill that gap with a handy little apostrophe.

BONUS TIP:

There’s one other, similar exception: “theirs.”  Example: “The world is theirs to explore.” As you can see, it does not use an apostrophe.  That is because “their” is already possessive. “Theirs” is very self-possessed, too!