Dear Gaila,
How do you teach students when to write “it’s” vs. “its”?
Jerry
Dear Jerry,
When I first teach my students about apostrophes I tell them that "an apostrophe appears when a letter has been popped out".
The case of it's and its is a spelling difference. My students need to think about what are they saying:
Are you saying "It is a baby" or "The puppy loved its baby"?
If it's the former, a letter – i – has been popped out and we need an apostrophe. Otherwise skip the apostrophe!
Gaila
Gaila has over 40 year of experience teaching and runs A.H.A.V.A., a non-profit to promote English literacy. Would you like to ask Gaila a question? Email us at ahava.org@gmail.com or send us a message. Look out for more Dear Gaila columns