Today is National Punctuation Day. I know that this means very little to non-grammar nerds. It’s like March 14th for mathletes or October 23rd for chemistry geeks. Although I don’t think the number 9/24 has any significance to punctuation itself, I’m still glad that there is at least one day a year that reminds us about the importance of proper punctuation.
In honor of National Punctuation Day, I’ve decided to highlight a punctuation mistake that sends me through the roof.
Its and the Apostrophe
You probably use the apostrophe most often in contractions or to show possession. For example:
I can’t go to John’s birthday party.
Can not becomes can’t, and it’s a birthday party that belongs to John. Seems simple enough, right? Not for everyone.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the misuse of an apostrophe in its. And I understand the confusion because an apostrophe shows possession for nouns. But, unfortunately, it’s and its are two different words. It’s is a contraction of two words (it is), whereas its indicates that something belongs to it.
Have I lost you yet? Here’s another example:
Have you seen the birthday cake? It’s huge and its bottom layer covers my whole desk!
The next time you come across some its/it’s confusion in your writing, just ask yourself, “Possessive or Contraction?” Possessive is its; contraction is it's.
You can also substitute it is to see if the sentence makes sense still. Make sure you say it out loud too, so you can really hear how it sounds.
“It is huge.” Yep. “It is bottom layer covers my whole desk.” No.
And if you’re still not sure, take it out. Changing a vague, nondescript pronoun like it back to the original noun will bring clarity to your writing and you won't have to worry about making an apostrophe mistake.
So go out into the world, properly prepared to punctuate like a pro! And celebrate with some cake, if you can.
