An issue I see regularly in plenty of published work (especially online) is the incorrect use of “it’s” versus “its.”

This really shouldn’t happen because there’s a simple distinction to understand and the rules are very simple.  Nevertheless, many writers make the mistake of confusing these two words. 

The only time an apostrophe should be used after “it” is when forming a contraction: when “it is”  or “it has” is intended.

 “It’s a beautiful sunset” (meaning “it is a beautiful sunset”)

Let’s look at a rule on the Grammarbook.com website (a great resource). As always, the end of the quoted material is denoted by the box (∎):

Rule 1: When you mean “it is” or “it has,” use an apostrophe.

Examples:

It’s a nice day.

It’s your right to refuse the invitation.

It’s been great getting to know you.

Rule 2: When you are using “it’s” as a possessive, don’t use the apostrophe.

Examples:

The cat hurt its paw.

The furniture store celebrated its tenth anniversary.

∎

For some writers it may be confusing because the possessive form for proper nouns does require an apostrophe, for example, “John’s car” or “Sally’s recipe.”

Unfortunately, with so much material written on a phone (and in a hurry), errors like this can creep in. It’s always a good practice to proofread what you’ve written to catch such errors.

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