Honestly people (well, some of you)… it’s really quite easy to figure out when to use the words “it’s“, “its“, “you’re” or “your“.
There’s a very simple secret when deciding whether to use “it’s” or “it’s” — never ever ever use “it’s” unless you are intending to say “it is” or “it has”. Easy! It is similar with “you’re” vs. “your” – if you are intending to say “you are” then by all means, write “you’re”.
INCORRECT:
The monkey sniffed it’s butt.
(the monkey sniffed IT IS butt?? I don’t think so…)
CORRECT:
The monkey sniffed its butt.
INCORRECT:
Your a dipwad.
CORRECT:
You’re a dipwad.
(YOU ARE a …)
For further grammar fun, including the use of apostrophes in possessives and some great pics of apostrophe abuse and misuse, see
Nice site. However, I have one comment.
You wrote:
— never ever ever use “it’s” unless you are intending to say “it is”.
What about using it’s to mean it has? If we follow your rule, we’d be writing “It is been a long time” rather than “it has been a long time”
Thanks!
Ah, markus – you are correct. It must have slipped my mind at the time I wrote this… I have corrected it (for posterity), thanks for pointing this out!
Brenda C. Mondragon