Possessives, Plurals, and Homonymns

1. Possessives, Plurals, and Homonymns Or, To It’s or Not To Its

2. Introduction • Confused about when to you “its” or “it’s?” You’re not the only one. Even professional writers screw this one up. • Psst: so does your teacher.

3. So What’s the Problem? • Well, there are actually two problems involved, here: • The first is misunderstanding the use of the apostrophe to signify possession. • The second is having two or more words that sound the same but are spelled differently.

4. What is a Possessive? • A possessive is just what it sounds like - when something "possesses" something/someone else.  A possessive form of a word literally means "belonging to ____"  or "of______." • Thus, "Rebecca's cat" means "the cat belonging to Rebecca" (to the extent that any cat belongs to any person, but work with me here).

5. What is a Possessive? • In some cases, the "thing" is not an object but an action, concept, or other abstract. • Thus, "The group's performance" is not so much "the performance belonging to the group" as "the performance of the group."

6. How Do I Form a Possessive? • In most cases, it's easy: you an apostrophe ( ' ) and an -s. • Rebecca's cat. • The group's performance. • The food's taste.

7. How Do I Form a Possessive? • If the noun which possesses something else is plural, things get a little stickier.  For plural nouns ending is "-s," you only need an apostrophe: • The students' grades. • The cats' litterbox.

8. How Do I Form a Possessive? • If the plural noun does not end in an "-s," you need an apostrophe and an -s. • The people's interests. • The children's toys.

9. How Do I Form a Posessive? • One of the common stylistic dilemmas arises when your singular noun ends in a "-s."  For example, "the constitution of Illinois."  Is it: • Illinois' constitution, or • Illinois's constitution? • Different people will tell you different things, with different principles guiding them.  I concur with this site's assertion that the key is consistency.  Pick one, and stick with it.

10. Possessive Pronouns: the Exception  Possessive pronouns throw a whole new wrinkle into things, and are often the key to the misused words discussed below. Possessive pronouns do NOT use apostrophes.  Never.  Ever.  Remember that.  It's going to be important.

11. Possessive Pronouns Instead, possessive pronouns are simply their own form of a word. • "Cat belonging to her" = "Her cat." • Special note: if you eliminate the noun that is being possessed, it becomes "hers."  As in: "Whose cat is that?" "Hers." • "Book belonging to him" = "his book."

12. Possessive Pronouns Okay, those are easy enough - we all know them.  But now we get to the sticky two: • "Car belonging to them" = "Their car."   • If you eliminate "car," it becomes "theirs." • "Color of it" = "Its color." • Note: NOT "It's." 

13. So What About Plurals? This section is entitled "possessive/plurals."  We've covered possessives.  What about plurals? Simple: plurals never have apostrophes unless they are also possessives.

14. Homonyms Homonyms are words that sound alike, and may even be spelled the same, but have two different meaning.  A homophone is more or less the same thing, but refers specifically to words sounding alike.

15. Homonyms The three most commonly confused homonyms are pronouns: • It’s/Its • You’re/Your • They’re/Their/There. Let’s break these down.

16. It’s/Its • Its = "belonging to/of it" (see above) • It's = "it is"

17. They’re/Their/There • Their = "belonging to/of them/they" • They're = "they are" • There = in that place/existing generally (there is)

18. You’re/Your • Your = "belonging to/of you" • You're = "you are." Seeing the pattern yet?

19. Possessive Pronouns Redux "Its/Their/Your" are all possessives.  Remember when I said above that possessive pronouns never have apostrophes?  This is the rule you can use to remember which form is correct.

20. Contractions "It's/They're/You're" are all contractions - that is, a word formed by putting two words (in this case, a pronoun and a verb) together and eliminating part of one.  Contractions always use apostrophes. To determine if something is a contraction, just try saying both words: that is, can you say “it is” instead of its?

21. That Pesky “There” “There” is neither a possessive nor a contraction.  It is used when you are referring to a place ("The book is over there") or using the introductory phrase "There is/there are."

22. Finding and Fixing So, how do you find and fix these?  Glad you asked! Luckily, you live in the computer age, in a time when you don't have to rely on just your own two eyes to catch these kinds of errors.

23. “Find” Function Almost any word processor has a "find" function - that is, a function that allows you to search for a particular word or phrase.  Usually, the “find” function is under “Edit.” In Word, you can also hit “control-F.”

24. Finding and Fixing Use the “find” function to find “its” in your paper. When you get to that form, look at the sentence.  Is the word "its" supposed to be a possessive (belonging to/of it) or a contraction (It is)?  If it is a contraction, you need to add an apostrophe. Repeat the process with “it’s.”

25. Finding and Fixing As with all things, this will take practice. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to proofread your paper for possessive/plural/homonym errors.