Remember what we said a few weeks ago about breaking down contractions like “you’re” and “they’re” to decide whether or not they should be used? That’s exactly what you’re going to need to do when deciding whether to write “its” or “it’s.”
“It’s,” of course, is the contraction of “it is.” On the other hand, “its” with no apostrophe is the word you use when you want to show that something belongs to a noun that isn’t a hers, a his or a theirs. When I see something like “The dog confused it’s food bowl and litter box,” I want to hit something. (And possibly vomit, but that’s neither here nor there.)
As with other contractions, stop to think for a moment about what you’re really saying. “It’s” = “it is,” always, forever and ever, amen. If you don’t mean “it is,” then don’t write “it’s.” Ever. When you pause to think, you will easily see that “The dog did whatever to it is food bowl” makes absolutely no sense. And you will write, correctly, “its.” (And you will make me very happy!)
Next time: too vs. to
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