<h2>Question</h2>
What's the difference between its and it's? I don't understand which one shows ownership and which one is a combination of it is.<!--
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--><h2>Answer</h2>
<p><em>Its</em> means "belonging to it" and <em>it's</em> means "it is." But if we usually show possessiveness by adding an apostrophe and an -s, why doesn't that work here?</p>
<p></p>
<p>The word <em>it</em> is a pronoun, and when you make a pronoun possessive, it changes form. <em>He</em> becomes <em>his</em>, <em>she</em> becomes <em>her</em>, <em>we</em> becomes <em>our</em>, and <em>who</em> becomes <em>whose</em>. The possessive form of <em>it</em> is <em>its</em>. Below are some examples using the possessive pronoun <em>its</em>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>The dog was licking <em>its</em> paw.</li>
<li>The table was missing one of <em>its</em> legs.</li>
<li>She bought a new book and accidentally tore <em>its</em> cover.</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p>The contraction of "it is" has an apostrophe to stand in for the missing letter, just like the contractions <em>don't</em> (<em>do</em> <em>not</em>), <em>they'll</em> (<em>they</em> <em>will</em>), <em>we've</em> (<em>we</em> <em>have</em>), <em>let's</em> (<em>let</em> <em>us</em>), and <em>he's</em> (<em>he</em> <em>is</em> or <em>he</em> <em>has</em>) have apostrophes in place of the missing letter or letters. Below are some examples using the contraction <em>it's</em>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>
<em>It's</em> going to be very cold today.</li>
<li>I have never been to that arcade but I hear <em>it's</em> a good one.</li>
<li>Do you know what time <em>it's</em> supposed to start raining?</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
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