Lars Pind

internet software, coaching, and entrepreneurship

Lars Pind - internet software, coaching, and entrepreneurship
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"it's" = "it is" or "it has"

July 02, 2005 · See comments

About five years ago, my good friend, then boss, and English major Michael Yoon taught me this very simple rule: “It’s = it is” or “it has”. If you do not intend to say “it is” or “it has”, you’ll want to say “its”. Since finally learning this simple and hard rule, my eyes have been hurting every time I’ve seen this mistake made. (The final straw)

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Comments ↓

  • 1 shep mckee // Jul 02, 2005 at 02:22 AM

    Here's a rule of thumb to help remeber the distinction, there's no apostrophe in possession, eg: his, hers, ours, its...

  • 2 Lars Pind // Jul 02, 2005 at 02:30 PM

    Except here's what the oxford dictionary in Tiger has to say about it:
    The apostrophe in it’s never denotes a possessive. The confusion is at least partly understandable since other possessive forms (singular nouns) do take an apostrophe + s, as in | the girl's bike or | the president's smile.

  • 3 shep mckee // Jul 03, 2005 at 08:08 AM

    I stand corrected... ;)

    Here's a rule of thumb to help remember the distinction, there's no apostrophe in possessive pronouns, eg: ours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs

  • 4 Michael Hinds // Jul 06, 2005 at 04:00 PM

    If this is the sort of thing that gets your goat, you should see Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

    Michael Hinds

  • 5 russell muetzelfeldt // Jul 20, 2005 at 12:47 PM

    see also - Bob the Angry Flower's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots