ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
TNReady Videos 296 videos
ACT Reading Prose Fiction Drill 1, Problem 4. How does the narrator feel about the prediction made at his birth that he would have the ability...
AP® English Language and Composition: Comprehension Drill 1, Problem 1. The speaker would agree with all of the following statements except what?
AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5. Death is primarily characterized as what?
Its vs. It's 5830 Views
Share It!
Description:
What’s the difference between its and it’s (spoiler alert: it’s more than just an apostrophe). This video covers the use of both of these words and how to figure out when to use which. Plus, as a bonus, it covers the difference between who’s and whose—two grammar concepts for the price of one.
- English I EOC Assessment / Correct Spelling
- Spelling / Correct Spelling
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Transcript
- 00:04
Its versus It's, a la Shmoop. It's a good thing you decided not to pretend
- 00:10
you have the flu this morning...
- 00:11
...because we're going to talk you through the rule about when to use “its” and “it's”...
- 00:15
...and it's a doozy. Let's start with “its”...
- 00:18
...the one with no apostrophe.
Full Transcript
- 00:20
This word is a possessive pronoun, like “hers”, “ours”, or “yours”. You use “its”
- 00:27
like this. The cat has a spot on its back.
- 00:31
The cat likes to yowl at its owner. The cat makes a racket in its litterbox.
- 00:40
The back, the owner, and the litterbox all belong to the cat, so we use the possessive
- 00:45
pronoun “its”. “It's” with an apostrophe is a contraction
- 00:51
of two words, either “it is” or “it has”.
- 00:54
So, you could say, “It is my birthday”...
- 00:56
...or you could just shorten that to, “It's my birthday.”
- 01:01
You could say, “It has been the worst day of my life since that time I got a swirlie
- 01:07
in the third grade”...
- 01:08
...or you could shorten that to, “It's been the worst day of my life since Swirl-maggedon.”
- 01:15
Two other words that might confuse you are “whose” and “who's”...
- 01:19
...but the rule here is the same as the one for “its” and “it's”.
- 01:22
You use “whose”...
- 01:23
...that's “w-h-o-s-e”, no apostrophe...
- 01:26
...when you say things like, “Whose house are we wrapping tonight?”
- 01:30
You use “who's”...
- 01:32
...that's “w-h-o-apostrophe-s”...
- 01:33
...when you say things like, “Who's got the Charmin?”
- 01:37
Just remember, “its” is a possessive pronoun...
- 01:40
...and “it's”...
- 01:41
...with an apostrophe...
- 01:42
...is the contraction of “it is” or “it has”.
- 01:51
It's been real.
Related Videos
This video explains the difference between affect and effect and provide tips for remembering which is which and when to use each one. If you suffe...
Want even more deets on Your vs. You're? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
Want even more deets on Into vs. In To? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
Want even more deets on Question Marks? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
