What is the difference between its and it's?

When you see "it's" with an apostrophe, think of it as a suitcase packed with two words. The apostrophe acts like a zipper, squishing "it" and "is" (or "it" and "has") together into a smaller package.

For example, in the sentence "It's raining outside," you are really saying "It is raining outside." The apostrophe is literally holding the place of the missing letter 'i' from the word 'is'.

The word "its" without an apostrophe is a possessive pronoun. It shows that something belongs to a thing or an animal, much like the words "his," "hers," or "theirs."

If you talk about a tree losing leaves, you would say, "The tree lost its leaves." The leaves belong to the tree. Notice that just like "his" and "hers" do not use apostrophes, neither does "its."

The confusion usually happens because we are taught that apostrophes show possession. If you are talking about Bob's car or the dog's bone, you use an apostrophe. So, it feels perfectly logical to use an apostrophe when talking about something belonging to "it."

But pronouns play by a different set of rules. We do not write "hi's" or "her's" to show possession, and we do not write "it's" for possession either. The apostrophe on "it's" is strictly reserved for the contraction.

Whenever you are writing and feel stuck between the two, use the substitution test. Try replacing the word with "it is" or "it has."

If the sentence still makes perfect sense, use "it's" with the apostrophe. If the sentence suddenly sounds silly or grammatically incorrect, you need the possessive form: "its."