Many people--both native
speakers of English and learners
of the language--are confused by
it's and
its. These two
short words sound exactly the
same, but their meanings and
uses are quite different.
It's
means either
it is
or
it has.
To know whether the 's
means is or
has, look at
the words which follow.
It's
It's
going to rain, I think. (
's = is
)
It's
time to leave. Hurry up! (
's = is
)
It's
cold in here! ( 's
=is )
It's
my turn to wash the dishes,
isn't it? ( 's
= is )
It's
quite difficult to get a high
TOEFL score. ( 's
= is )
It's
easy to lose track of the time.
( 's =
is )
This isn't my book. It's
Fernando's. ( 's
= is )
When'shis birthday? It's
November 1st, isn't it? (
's = is
)
It's
10:15. We have a meeting soon. (
's = is
)
It's
felt by many that English
spelling is crazy. ( 's
= is )
It's
been a long day! ( 's
= has )
It's
taken Bill a long time to fix
his car. ( 's =
has )
It's
gotten cooler in the last hour.
( 's =
has )
It's
been raining most of the day. (
's =
has )
Oh, no! Look at my bicycle!
It's got a flat
tire! ( 's =
has )
______________________________________________
Its
Its,
on the other hand, is the
possessive
form for it:
We're reading a novel by
Hemingway. Its
title is
The Sun Also Rises.
I really like the way that car
looks, but its
price is
more than I can afford.
Have you tried the new
restaurant on Elm Street?
Its
name is "Marco's" and it serves
Italian food.
This website is world-famous
with students and
teachers of English. Its
official name is "Dave's
ESL Cafe on the Web."
Please rewrite your essay,
Aleksandr. Its
content is
very good, but there are too
many grammar and
spelling errors.
___________________________________________<
/P>
Special Note:
In one example sentence above,
"It's got a flat tire,"
it's
means it has,
but the sentence is
not
in present perfect
tense. The idiom has got
/ have got
means
has
/
have.
The form for
this idiom is like present
perfect tense, but
it is used like
simple-present-tense sentences:
It's got a flat tire. ( = It has
a flat tire.)
He's got red hair. ( = He has
red hair.)
I haven't got any money. ( = I
don't have any money.)
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