I was discussing grammar with my friend tonight. Specifically the ‘it’ dilemma. He says that ‘it’s’ denotes possession (eg. it had a wart on it’s nose), as well as being an abbreviation for it is (wow, it’s fast!).
I, however, stand by the fact that ‘it’s’ only means it is, and ‘its’ (it had a wart on its nose) is used for possession. Which of us is right?
i hope you made a bet, fella, cuz you just won.
I teach English often so I can assure you that your friend is wrong. I hope you won some money!!
It’s amazing, though, how many people get this wrong!
Your right about that!!! 
A way to remember this is that possessive pronouns don’t contain apostrophes: his, hers, theirs, ours, its. So instead of “its” being some kind of exception, it fits the pattern perfectly.
Unless you’re in Arkansas:
His’n, her’n, their’n
In England, I frequently see shops selling: video’s, camera’s, CD’s, PC’s, tomato’s and banana’s to name but a handful.
Then again, there are some English dictionaries that are considering amalgamating the meanings of ‘infer’ and ‘imply’ too.
I lose sleep over this most nights.
Don’t be such a looser!
Hmm, didn’t seem to phase him a bit. You should of said it louder.
Thanx a lot all of you, I just wanted to get that cleared up.
Aha! Unless it’s a plural possessive pronoun.
Just remember this simple mnemonic:
“Its” is “it’s” when it’s “it is”, and “its” when it’s not.
No… Plural possessive forms are our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs. – See, no apostrophe’s :rolleyes:
Or my favorite, from East Texas: a cup near a cash register for spare pennies, marked “Penny’s”.
Arnold, I had it until you posted this. Now I’m confused again.
Sorry delta-9! Actually I quoted the mnemonic incompletely, maybe this will help.
Its spelling is “it’s” when it’s “it is”, and it’s “its” when it’s not.
Is that clearer? 
First post, but I just had to get in on this one.
I have spent my life and career on eradicating careless errors such as the one currently under discussion, but I had always assumed that those who typed “it’s” for “its” and vice versa were more likely innocent victims of inadvertent slips of the keyboard than products of a poor grounding in English grammar. Speaker’s post, however, has proved me wrong.
This brings me to a slightly tangential (i.e. hijacking) query. Does English grammar (including spelling and punctuation) really matter anymore? Most readers know that “it’s nose” means “its nose” (or they don’t even notice the difference), but they usually let it slide. This indicates to me that the language may be changing and there’s (or theirs) nothing we can (or should) do about it. Do we really create any ambiguities or misunderstandings by writing “Your my best best friend” instead of the pedant’s correct version of “You’re…”?
Its okay, Arnold. Before my brain loses anymore of it’s cells, I think I’ll go lie down. Its been a long day.
Which is to say that there are no smilies belonging to an apostrophe in the above examples.
That should have read: See, no apostrophes. :rolleyes: There should be no apostrophe and you forgot a period.