[QW5] “It’s” vs. “Its”

by | Sep 19, 2020

[ Quick Win posts – QWs – are brief items to help non-overwhelm your day. Enjoy! ]


 

Here is a problematic word puzzler where one outlier does not follow the rule.

[QW5] “It’s” vs. “Its”

We often find an apostrophe demonstrating ownership:

The dog‘s bone

A company‘s logo

A Ferengi‘s tooth sharpener (If you’re not a Star Trek fan, never mind 🙂 )

We can shorten these to:

Its bone

Its logo

(Ferengis are humanoids, so I can’t call them an ‘it.’)

Um. What happened to the (ownership indicating) apostrophe?!

‘Its’ breaks the apostrophe rule when demonstrating ownership.

Sorry. Grrrrrr.

“How do I remember which is which?”

Here’s an easy way to remember which spelling to use.

Add an apostrophe when you could use ‘it is’ in your phrase.
For example
:

It’s challenging to find a tasty bone for a dog nowadays.”
It is challenging to find a tasty bone for a dog nowadays.”

Do not use an apostrophe here:

“The dog loved its bone.”

“The dog loved it is bone” doesn’t work.


Oof! Quick Win 5 is a hard one!

We use the contraction “it’s” so often, it’s easy to forget about the other way these three small letters appear in our writing.

Feel free to leave a comment or email me if you need help with this ‘puzzler’: Kathie@KathieYork.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Subscribe so you won’t miss other Quick Wins or my business and writing tips. I won’t stuff your inbox or share your information.

Let me know how I can help with your next writing project, and I hope we talk soon.

Kathie

Click here to see the introductory post for this series.

Click here to access all [QW] posts.

Permalink: https://kathieyork.com/qw5-its-vs-its/

Sharing is caring!

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Kathie York, CSQE
Queen of Non-Overwhelm
Goals Accountability Instructor

Subscribe and receive a

— Short video reviewing the 7 Steps to Non-Overwhelm (+ a welcome from me)

— Copy of the mini e-book 5 Tips for Reaching Goals

(Promise: NO inbox stuffing or sharing your information.)

Blog Archive

Blog Categories

Contact Kathie

Need help reaching non-overwhelm?
Even if tech is involved?!

Give me a brief description of the issue.
Maybe I can help.
No invoice.

Skip to content