One of the more common homophone errors writers make is between “its” and “it’s.” While they sound the same, “its” is the possessive pronoun of “it” and “it’s” is the contraction of “it is.” One way to differentiate them is to identify why you are using one version or the other. “Its” is used to convey possession by an inanimate object, action, idea, animal, group, or person whose gender is overlooked, as in the sentence “The dog bounded happily toward its owner on Todd Field.” “It’s” with an apostrophe is used to indicate “it is” or the past tense “it was,” as in the sentences “It’s [it is] a universally acknowledged belief that a dog is a human’s best friend,” or “It’s [it has] been great getting to know all the dogs that frequent campus.” If you are trying to figure out which form to use, try splitting “its” into “it is” or “it was” and see if the sentence still makes sense. For instance, the sentence “The dog bounded happily toward it is owner on Todd Field,” does not make very much sense, so this may be an indication that the correct form to use is “its.”
