These words never take an apostrophe
You learned that a naming word needs an apostrophe and an s to show owning.
“Ava’s hat”
Owning words work differently. They already mean owning all by themselves, so they need no mark at all.
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| her’s hat | her hat |
| their’s bikes | their bikes |
| your’s turn | your turn |
| it’s bowl | its bowl |
Not one of these words ever takes an apostrophe. Not one, not ever.
The one everybody gets wrong
The last row in that table is the most common punctuation mistake in English. Grown-ups make it constantly.
“its” shows owning. “The bird built its nest.”
“it’s” is a short way of writing “it is”. “It’s raining.”
They sound exactly the same and they are two different words. The one with the mark is not about owning at all.
A test that works
Try saying “it is” in place of the word. If the sentence still makes sense, use “it’s”. If it does not, use “its” with no mark.
“The bird built it is nest” makes no sense, so the word is “its”.
“It is raining” makes perfect sense, so the word is “it’s”.
There is one more pair like this. “your” shows owning and “you’re” is short for “you are”. The same test sorts them out.
A mistake to watch for
Some children add an apostrophe to every owning word because they remember the rule for naming words. Both rules are real and they apply to different kinds of words.
Naming word plus apostrophe s. Owning word plain.
Your turn
Choose the correct one.
- “The dog wagged (its / it’s) tail.”
- “(Its / It’s) too cold to swim.”
- “Is this (your / your’s) coat?”
Check your answers
- “its tail”. The dog owns the tail.
- “It’s too cold.” That means it is too cold.
- “your coat”. No mark ever.
Remember
- Owning words never take an apostrophe.
- “its” shows owning and “it’s” means it is.
- Try saying “it is” out loud to decide.