It’s vs. Its: Why?
29 Mar
I think this is something we all know even though a lot of us inadvertently slip up from time to time. Â You use “it’s” only to denote “it is”. Â That’s it. Â Unlike almost every single other word in the English language, you do not add an apostrophe to “its” to denote possession.
Yet, where did this odd exception come from? Â Why do you not add an apostrophe to “its” to show possession? Â It really doesn’t make sense whatsoever, which is why so many people mess it up. Â I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out the reason why, but came up with nothing.
My own personal theory is that since the word ‘it’ is gender neutral and almost always an object, something referred to as ‘it’ cannot philosophically possess anything. Â Thus, saying something like “It’s leaf,” is a logical fallacy since while the leaf is on the tree, the tree does not own the leaf.
Any other theories out there, or does someone know the reason why ‘its’ has no apostrophe when used to denote possession?
Erm… It’s English?
Seriously, there is so much in the English language that makes no sense beyond that was the way it was always done and therefore it became law.
Funny thing: this is one of my pet-peeves when it comes to grammar, and yet I slip up and write “it’s” when referring to the possessive all. the. time.
Hers, his, ours, yours, and theirs are all possessive without an apostraphe as well. None of the possessive pronouns that are used alone (as opposed to the ones that modify a noun, like “her” and “my”) have apostrophes. “The box is theirs, the box is ours, the box is its…”
Although, you can’t say “Hers box is green” but you can say “Its box is green”. I’m not sure why that is– “it” does seem to be a bit different.
Is that what you meant? xD I’m not sure if I followed exactly. I could just be confused.
I think Evi won.
I guess proper nouns should have an apostrophe and pronouns shouldn’t, because, as Evi said, objects can’t really own something in the same way that a person can. It’s odd that you should mention this though because just a day or two ago I was wondering about the same thing myself.
My explanation (which I use in reviews constantly) is similar to Evi’s:
It’s is a conjunction like he’s or she’s. Its is a word like his or her.
It made perfect sense to me.
Thanks everyone for your comments! I’m still dissatisfied though. At some point in time, there must have been a conscious decision to not apply the apostrophe to the possessive form of ‘its’, and I’m just wondering how they come to their decision.
Is there ever a conscious decision in language, though? Doesn’t it kind of just…evolve? Like the use of contractions, for example. I don’t think anyone ever said, at one point, “BAM! Now we will combine these two words with an apostrophe!” As culture and society evolve, things happen to the language and what’s considered proper.
And if someone did make that decision to exclude the apostrophe, it wasn’t just for “its”, it was for all those other possessive pronouns as well.
You’re right, though; it’s quite curious.
Wow.
*Mind blown.*
Maybe the apostrophe was dropped from the possessive form of it in order to distinguish the possessive from the contraction for it is. However, context should easily make that distinction even if the apostrophe appears in both usages. I’ve begun leaving the apostrophe in the possessive if I inadvertently put it in. And sometimes I omit the apostrophe from aint. Talk about derring-do!