its
Belonging to that
Its is used to indicate ownership or possession for things that have no gender, or when gender is unimportant, as for animals or babies: The dog lost its collar. Philadelphia is famous for its statuary.
Perhaps because other possessives have apostrophes (the dog’s collar, Philadelphia’s statuary), its is mistakenly written with an apostrophe, as it’s.
But the test for its is simple: read your sentence, and if it is does not work in place of its, no apostrophe is needed!
Case expressing ownership
- pronounNoun's grammatical replacement
- determinerNoun-introducing word class
- apostropheMark showing ownership
- contractionReduction in size
antecedent · referent · third-person · singular · neuter · inanimate · non-human · attributive
Have legal title to
- belongingState of fitting in
- characteristicDistinguishing quality or trait
- inherentExisting as essential part
- associatedConnected in relationship
respective · particular · individual · proper · distinctive · intrinsic · corresponding
genitive
Case expressing ownership
- pronounNoun's grammatical replacement
- determinerNoun-introducing word class
- apostropheMark showing ownership
contraction · antecedent · referent · third-person · singular · neuter · inanimate · non-human · attributive · syntax
own
Have legal title to
- belongingState of fitting in
- characteristicDistinguishing quality or trait
- inherentExisting as essential part
associated · respective · particular · individual · proper · distinctive · intrinsic · corresponding
his
Male possessive pronoun
my · our · whose · mine · yours · hers · theirs · thy · thine · one's
- take its tollCause cumulative damage
- run its courseProceed until finished naturally
- itsy bitsyPlayfully, extremely small
- pay for itselfRecover purchase cost through savings
- worth its weight in goldExtremely valuable or useful
- take its courseProceed without interference