Grammar Police: It Forms (Its and It’s)

It’s hard to remember when to use its and when to use it’s. One means it is or it has and the other make it possessive. But which one is which?

It’s should be used to refer to it is or it has. It’s a contraction.
Its should be used as a possessive form of it. Its lack of apostrophe is important.

How can you remember this? It can be tricky. Here’s how I do it:
It’s (it is or it has) uses an apostrophe. In contractions like don’t and can’t use the apostrophe to replace a letter. The same is true for it’s. …read more