It's confusing

An it's needs an apostrophe when it's saying "it is".

And it's needs an apostrophe when it's signifying ownership, like Jenny's or Paul's.

Now, I know there must be, but I can't for the life of me think of another use of the word it's where there is no apostrophe. Isn't there one? I could swear I remember being taught the difference, but....can't ever remember doing it.

Can someone refresh my memory before I go insane?

 

It's = it is.

Its is the possessive case and has no apostrophe.

 

^^^^

He's right.

 

Sample of using "its".

Since we took its bone, the dog started chewing sticks.

Terry

 

yup!

 

I won't say anything that the others haven't said, but i want to anyway.

'Its' is the possesive case, that is without an apostrophe which is unlike the others. When an apostrophe is added in between 's' and 't' it is to show the editing of letters. I can't remember the the correct terminology for it, but 'it's' with an apostrophe means 'it is': like you probably already know.

 

Ooooh....really?

Wow...yeah, I knew it is = it's, but I thought we used an apostrophe on possesion, same as you would a name.

Damn I feel stupid, lol....**goes back to reedit**

Thanks a bunch.

 

Your welcome.

 

Don't feel stupid. It's a common error. Part of the learning curve of being a writer is becoming familiar with errors like this one and avoiding them in your writing.

I don't usually correct typos in posts unless I'm writing a critique of a story, but in the context of the discussion, this is another common error. You ought to have written:

You're welcome.

Cheers,
Rob

 

Yes i did write it at 1am last night... i was rather tired.

 

The term would be 'contraction'.

Terry

 

Hey, thanks for this.... I now know a few things... so I will probably have to go back to this ova and ova again....