Homonyms Part 2

A second common error with homonyms occurs when dealing with it's and its. One is a contraction and the other is a possessive pronoun, but how to remember which one is which? Contractions, though not proper English are used extensively in vernacular English. Obviously cannot becomes can't, and were not becomes weren't, less clear is the transformation of will not to won't. Following this pattern, it is becomes contracted to it's. Remembering that the possessive its does not have an apostrophe can be remembered by looking at other possessive pronouns. His and hers do not have apostrophes, they are never written as hi's and her's. To avoid this sort of mistake it's advisable to never use contractions.