its - it's

This page has examples of the single most common mistake made by native speakers of English.

The claim in the box above is a bold one. I do not have empirical data to support it. But I do have over twenty years experience of opening the Guardian online every day and reading the comments that are found under numerous of it's articles.

These comments are written by readers of the Guardian, who are generally among the most educated of the population. In fact, the Guardian has the reputation of being the teachers' newspaper of choice.

Whether this is true or not, the readers' comments and other contributions are a good source of the kind of mistake made by people who can be expected to have a strong command of the language. So, if you are one of these well-educated people, I expect that the mistake in the first paragraph above will have stuck out like a sore thumb.

But, maybe not. This misspelling of the word containing the letters i-t-s is by far the most common mistake that I find in readers' comments. Certainly, errors can easily be made when bashing out quick comments, especially using the tiny keyboard on a phone. But I am fairly sure that a large number of the its-it's mistakes are based not on carelessness but on cluelessness as to the correct form in the given context.

Quiz

All the sentences in this quiz are taken from Guardian reader comments containing the word with the letters i-t-s. Determine which usage is correct in its context and which is not. Then click Answers to see if you are right and for an explanation.

  1. This is the great lesson I like to take from sport at its best.
  2. They will also be unwittingly de-uniting England internally when the country is left on it's own.
  3. It's intriguing to see how it reaches its climax as a series in it's own right, as well as being a prequel.
  4. Can you imagine a nato no longer having USA among it's ranks.
  5. It may pretend to honour a separation of church and state but its actions clearly speak louder than words
  6. The court has no roll in reversing it's own (glaring) mistake?
  7. Perhaps the real test of a failed state is how many dead bodies are tolerated by its citizens.
  8. Chess is entitled to its' own and unique structure. It isn't a contest of physical strength.
  9. The whole country is a victim of its history and it's not going to turn around any time soon.
  10. It could so easily have been a skit on the UK, it's government experts, it's PM and it's climate deniers.
  1. This is the great lesson I like to take from sport at its best.

    → The first commenter here gets off to a good start. The its is a possessive pronoun like my or his. Possessive pronouns do not have an apostrophe.

  2. They will also be unwittingly de-uniting England internally when the country is left on it's own.

    → No, it's in this context is a possessive pronoun and should not have an apostrophe.

  3. It's intriguing to see how it reaches its climax as a series in it's own right, as well as being a prequel.

    → The first it's is a contraction of it is so the apostrophe is correct. The second it's is a possessive pronoun, so its spelling here is correct. The third it's is also a possessive pronoun, so the apostrophe is wrong.

  4. Can you imagine a nato no longer having USA among it's ranks.

    → Again, the it's is a possessive pronoun and should be spelled here without the apostrophe.

  5. It may pretend to honour a separation of church and state but its actions clearly speak louder than words

    → This is the correct spelling of its as a possessive pronoun in its context.

  6. The court has no roll in reversing it's own (glaring) mistake?

    → No, its is a possessive pronoun here. It must not have an apostrophe.

    The misspelling of roll for rôle is a homophone spelling mistake. Such mistakes are also very common in commenters' texts.

  7. Perhaps the real test of a failed state is how many dead bodies are tolerated by its citizens.

    → The spelling is correct in this context as a possessive pronoun.

  8. Chess is entitled to its' own and unique structure. It isn't a contest of physical strength.

    → This is an interesting variation on the mistake. The word its' does not exist in English in any context.

  9. The whole country is a victim of its history and it's not going to turn around any time soon.

    → Well done, commenter! Both words are spelled correctly as 1. a possessive pronoun and 2. a contraction of it is.

  10. It could so easily have been a skit on the UK, it's government experts, it's PM and it's climate deniers.

    → Well, at least this last commenter is consistent, i.e. consistently wrong. All of the it's here are possessive pronouns and should be its.

    Or, in fact, since the it's in the previous sentence is a plural, perhaps it should be ... all of the it'ses or maybe even ...all of the it's's!

Here is another quiz on its-it's. And elsewhere on this site is an index of various activities with the title apostrophes for experts, which include advice on how to make the right spelling choice of this pesky word.

And if you didn't spot the mistake in the first paragraph above, it is of course the it's in the phrase ...under numerous of it's articles. It should be ...under numerous of its articles since the its here is a possessive pronoun and not a contraction of it is or it has.