{"id":118922,"date":"2025-05-13T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/13\/its-the-word-most-often-used-incorrectly\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T10:00:00","slug":"its-the-word-most-often-used-incorrectly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/13\/its-the-word-most-often-used-incorrectly\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the Word Most Often Used Incorrectly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teddy Snyder | Its. it\u2019s the word that trips up many writers, the word that doesn\u2019t follow the rules.
\nThe post It\u2019s the Word Most Often Used Incorrectly appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s the word that trips up many writers, the word most often used incorrectly, the word that doesn\u2019t follow the rules.<\/p>\n

\"its
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Problem Is the Apostrophe <\/h2>\n

Apostrophes are most often used in two ways: in a contraction or to show possession. Some names have apostrophes, too.<\/p>\n

Contractions shorten up two words into one. Have, would, will, had, not and versions of \u201cto be\u201d (am, is, are) are often contracted. <\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I am<\/td>\nI\u2019m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I have<\/td>\nI\u2019ve<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I will<\/td>\nI\u2019ll<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I had<\/td>\nI\u2019d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

Writers often use an apostrophe for the shortened version of a date. For example, you could write that this year is \u201925 instead of 2025. And we use it when referencing plural letters, such as when a person minds p\u2019s and q\u2019s or instructs that all the R\u2019s in a phrase should be capitalized, like Righteous Rolling Rock.<\/p>\n

English speakers are lucky to have a shortcut for showing possession.\u00a0Rather than having to say \u201cthe injury of the plaintiff,\u201d English speakers can say \u201cthe plaintiff\u2019s injury.\u201d\u00a0Adding \u2019s to the end of a word indicates possession. If a noun already ends in s, maybe because it\u2019s plural, show possession by adding the apostrophe after the s. Modern grammarians say you can also add \u2018s so long as you\u2019re consistent, though that may look weird to some readers.<\/p>\n

Fairly simple, right? <\/p>\n

But people mix up when to use the apostrophe.\u00a0For some, adding an s to the end of a noun to form the plural just cries out for an apostrophe.\u00a0Businesses frequently make this mistake in their signage:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No.\u00a0When an s at the end of a noun indicates more than one person or thing, and the noun is not followed by identification of a possession, using an apostrophe is wrong.<\/p>\n

And Then There\u2019s Its<\/em><\/h2>\n

Its<\/strong> is the possessive version of it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

When talking about our country, you might say, \u201cThe importance of its constitution cannot be overstated.\u201d\u00a0The constitution possessed by the United States is what we\u2019re talking about.\u00a0There\u2019s no apostrophe because the word it\u2019s means something else.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no regular plural of it<\/strong> as a pronoun<\/a>, because the plural is they or them. So its can only be a possessive. A seldom-seen exception might occur if the word is not working as a pronoun; it\u2019s not substituting for a noun.\u00a0There are a lot of \u201cit\u2019s\u201d in this post.Unless you\u2019re writing a grammar column, you\u2019ll probably never need to think about this.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s with the apostrophe is always a contraction meaning it is.<\/strong> According to the rules, it\u2019s <\/strong>should be possessive.Sorry, it\u2019s not. <\/p>\n

Its, the possessive of it, is just one of those exceptions that makes English English.<\/p>\n

620 Illustration \u00a9iStockPhoto.com<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

\n
\"Order<\/a><\/figure>\n
\n

More Writing Tips<\/a><\/h2>\n

Find more good ideas for improving your legal writing and communications skills in \u201cGet to the Point\u201d by Teddy Snyder. <\/p>\n

\n
READ MORE \u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teddy Snyder | Its. it\u2019s the word that trips up many writers, the word that doesn\u2019t follow the rules. The post It\u2019s the Word Most Often Used Incorrectly appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers. \u201cIts\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s\u201d?\u00a0It\u2019s the word that trips up many writers, the word most often used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}