Common Mistakes with “its and it’s”
Welcome! Let’s tackle one of those confusing concepts: the difference between “its” and “it’s.” While these words might look alike, their meanings differ significantly.
Why Does Misusing “Its/It’s” Matter
You might be asking why switching ‘its/it’s’ around makes such a significant impact? Well, using either form incorrectly could completely change the meaning of a sentence! For instance if someone said, “The cat chased its tail.” it wouldn’t make much sense.
So What Is the Difference?
Here is how it works: “its” indicates possession while “it is/has”.
Common Mistakes Now let’s examine some of the more frequent errors people make with respect to using “its” and ‘it’s”.
Use “its” when writing contractions of any word or sentence.
One of the most frequently made mistakes is using “its” when “it’s” would suffice; an example would be saying something such as, “Its raining outside”, when this should in fact read as:
Add possessive pronoun ‘it’s’ after “it”
Conversely, another frequent error involves incorrectly using “it’s” instead of “its.” For instance, saying: “The dog waggled its tail.” would be incorrect and should instead read as: “The dog wagged its tail.”
Mixing them up in complex sentences.
People may get disoriented when trying to use both “its” and “it’s” in one sentence, as can easily happen here: for instance “The cat chased its tail but couldn’t catch up. See how easily those words get confused?”
How Can You Remember
But how do you remember when to use its and when to use its’? Here are a few helpful hints:
Consider “its” like any other possessive noun – like “his, hers or theirs”. And don’t forget it is a contraction just like don’t can or wont do.
Practice Makes Perfect
In order to become adept in using “its” and “it’s” correctly, take some time writing sentences with these two words placed correctly within them. Take your time writing each out separately as sentences that use these two terms are written out by hand.
Conclusion Its
Don’t feel discouraged if you still find yourself confused between “its” and ‘it’s”. This is an extremely common miscommunication among humans; with practice though, this should become much clearer over time! Just stay at it until your grasp on this grammar issue strengthens!