THE IT'SY BITSY SPIDER? 4.15.06
Don't ask me why the majority of America never learned the difference between it's and its, but it's one of those grammatical errors that makes me want to fire someone whenever I come across it. I've seen it in all but the most professional print ads, official documents galore, and in rampant use throughout casual writing.
Strangely, it seems that the version with the apostrophe gets the nod much more often than the version sans apostrophe. I don't think one version has a higher frequency of usage than the other, at least when used properly. I guess the apostrophe version seems like the more correct route, as it follows the concept of adding 's to a person's name to signify possession... still, it's a bit ironic, considering the general fear people have of using other punctuation such as the semicolon, hyphen, and ellipses. Anyway, if you're one of these people who don't know their it's from their its, I welcome you. Sit down and take notes... a post-it note will do.
Proper use of IT'S
When used as a contraction. As a simple clue, read any iteration of "it's" by taking apart the contraction, so that it reads either "it is" or "it has". If the sentence still makes sense, then you're good.
- It's (it is) a wonderful life.
- It's (it has) arrived.
- It's (it is or it has) to be used properly.
Proper use of ITS
When used as a possessive pronoun. Confusion ensues here because it is correct to say "Fido's" to indicate possession, but incorrect to say "It's". Note that "it is" or "it has" should not make sense in the following examples.
- Inside its (a Cadbury Egg's) core is a sugary substance.
- Its (Cindy Crawford's mole's) massive size made me queasy.
- We traced the virus to its (the virus') origin.
See? It's really pretty easy when you think about it. And rest assured that from now on, you'll be immune to my notorious grammar geek rants about the consequences of misuse. You know, the rants where I jump up on a table and point my finger at someone, yelling "Unclean! Unclean!".