المدونة / Its or It's? Real Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Its or It's? Real Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Its (no apostrophe) means "belonging to it": "The company revised its policy." It's (with an apostrophe) is the contraction of "it is" or "it has": "It's raining." The examples below are real sentences that people sent to Proofread Bot.

The corrections are written in formal, academic English, so contractions are spelled out in full. Where a contracted or colloquial form is common in everyday writing, it is shown underneath as the informal version.

Why the apostrophe is so confusing

Writers are taught that an apostrophe shows possession ("the dog's bowl"), so "it's" looks like the natural possessive of "it." But possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: his, hers, ours, yours, theirs, and its. If you would not write "hi's," do not write "it's" for possession.

1. "Its" where "it is" is meant

✗ Its time for bed.
✓ It is time for bed.
Informal: It's time for bed.

✗ Its a nice day today.
✓ It is a nice day today.
Informal: It's a nice day today.

✗ Its snowing outside right now.
✓ It is snowing outside right now.
Informal: It's snowing outside right now.

✗ Its raining outside.
✓ It is raining outside.
Informal: It's raining outside.

✗ Its a brown cat.
✓ It is a brown cat.
Informal: It's a brown cat.

✗ Yes I like pizza its really good.
✓ Yes, I like pizza; it is really good.
Informal: Yes, I like pizza. It's really good.

2. "It's" where possession is meant

✗ Every dog has it's day.
✓ Every dog has its day.

✗ It's valve is black.
✓ Its valve is black.

✗ The government refuses to revise it's policy.
✓ The government refuses to revise its policy.

3. Both errors in one sentence

✗ The government refuses to revise it's policy, because they claim its already perfect.
✓ The government refuses to revise its policy because it claims that the policy is already perfect.
Informal: The government refuses to revise its policy because it claims it's already perfect.

✗ Its there story.
✓ It is their story.
Informal: It's their story.

Note the second change in the first example: a government is a single body, so formal writing refers to it as "it," not "they." British English sometimes treats such collective nouns as plural, but within one sentence you should not switch between the two.

The one-step test

Replace the word with "it is" or "it has." If the sentence still makes sense, write it is (or it's in informal writing). If it does not, write its. "Every dog has it is day" fails the test, so the correct form is its.

Let a tool check for you

Because both forms are correctly spelled words, this error slips past spell checkers and tired eyes alike. Paste your text into Proofread Bot and it will flag each its/it's confusion and explain which form the sentence needs. For the same problem with other pronouns, see your or you're.

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