Its is the possessive pronoun. It's is the contraction meaning "it is." It's not a good idea to judge a book by its cover.

The same problem occurs with whose and who's, your and you're, and their and they're. The first word in each set is the possessive pronoun and the second is a contraction.

Why are these words so confusing? Usually when we want to make a word possessive, we add an apostrophe and an s (e.g., Mary's little lamb, the dog's bone). But when we want to make a pronoun possessive, we use a different word entirely. We don't say she's book. We say her book.

When we add an apostrophe to a pronoun, we aren't making it possessive. Instead, we are making a contraction, or combining two words into one. We use contractions all the time with the word "not." Should not = shouldn't. The apostrophe takes the place of a letter, such as the o in not. Therefore, she is becomes she's. The apostrophe is taking the place of the i in is.

This all seems simple enough until we get to pronouns like it. We forget to treat it like a pronoun and instead treat it like a regular noun. But remember, when we add the apostrophe and s to a pronoun, we are making a contraction, not a possessive. Therefore, it's always means it is, and its is the possessive pronoun.

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