Because of insufficient time spent on writing and grammar, as well as the abundance of incorrect written English on places like internet blogs and chat rooms, there are many small written mistakes which are both frequent and simple to fix. Improving your writing allows the reader of your work to focus on your content and not get distracted by errors. No matter where your writing is being displayed or what purpose it may have (to persuade someone, to inform someone, to fulfill a writing assignment for school) it will be taken more seriously if it’s not full of mistakes.

Today’s issue: “its” vs. “it’s”

These two simple, small words are two of the most commonly mixed up, but don’t worry, there’s an extremely simple way to tell them apart. Once you can do that, you will know which one to use in your writing, and you will immediately seem more credible and knowledgeable.

Its

The word “its” is a possessive. Possessives are words like “his,” “her,” or “your,” which are used to delineate ownership of nouns. (Remember, a noun is an object, a person, place, or thing). This may sound complicated, so let’s look at a few examples of possessives being used in sentences.

This is her jacket.

As you can see, the possessive in this sentence is the word “her,” signifying the noun (the jacket) belongs to an unknown third party who is a female.

I don’t want to do his homework.

Here, we’re using the possessive “his,” again referring to an unknown third person who is male. From the context, it’s difficult to tell if “his homework” refers to homework which a male teacher assigned, or a fellow male student who wants the speaker to do his homework for him.

Now, let’s look at an example with the word “its.”

My car won’t start because its engine is broken.

Notice, just as with “his” and “her,” that “its” comes before a noun. In this case, the word “engine.” The word “its” here tells us that the engine belongs to (or is part of) something. We know it’s a thing because the word “its” is used, which refers to things, not people. So, in this sentence, the word “its” shows that the engine is part of the previously mentioned car.

Two more examples:

My DVD player stopped working–its DVD tray won’t even open. I prefer this newspaper because itsfont isn’t too small for me.

It’s

The word “it’s” is a contraction. We use contractions all the time in English: you’re (you are), they’re (they are), he’s (he is), I’d (I would). Contractions combine a pronoun (I, you, we, they, he, she, it) and a verb (an action word, something you can do) to make one small word. This shortens the time it takes to speak in casual conversation.

So what does “it’s” mean? The word “it’s” is a contraction for it is.

Here are some examples:

Look outside, it’s raining. (Look outside, it is raining). I love my bed because it’s so soft. (…because it is so soft). It’s frustrating to sit in traffic for an hour on your way to work. (It is frustrating…).

As you can tell, the word “it’s” is used to describe things or situations.

How do you know which one to use?

Next time you’re writing a sentence and you need either “its” or “it’s,” just take a second and substitute the phrase “it is.” You’ll quickly know which to use: if “it is” sounds right, use “it’s”; if not, use “its.”

To see how obvious this makes the difference between the two, let’s use an earlier example: “My car won’t start because its engine is broken” becomes “My car won’t start because it is engine is broken.” The second sentence is clearly wrong, which is why “its” is the appropriate choice.

Please look for my next article on common English mistakes, which will deal with the words “there,” “their,” and “they’re.” Also I'd like to write some posts about how to blog for profit, what do you think of that? 

As an English teacher and teacher trainer in Pakistan, I’ll admit that many times I have a lot of trouble understanding my students. Indian-Pakistani English has developed into its own unique dialect over the years, and although the Desi population may understand each other perfectly, speakers of standard dialects may be left completely befuddled. Improve your English and make sure you’re understood by avoiding these common mistakes.

Word: hotel 
Culprit: pronunciation, meaning

The first I was asked if I wanted to go out to a HO-tl (pronounced with hard retroflex t) on a Friday night, I had to ask the speaker to clarify. She wanted to go out to eat at a nice restaurant, while I was wondering why we’d go out just to sleep in a hotel. In standard English, a hotel is a place where you stay or sleep. Many nice restaurants in the subcontinent happen to be in 5-star hotels, so it’s understandable how the term ‘hotel’ came to mean ‘nice restaurant.’

In standard English, the word ‘hotel’ is pronounced with stress on the second syllable, ‘ho – TEL’ and with a soft [t] not a hard one. The [t] should be pronounced right behind your teeth, in a similar position to the Urdu-Hindi softer sound.

There is also no verb ‘to hotel,’ which means we can not ‘go hoteling’ tonight. If that were a verb in English, it would have to mean something like going out to sleep in different hotels. What you want to say is, “Let’s go out to eat tonight.”

Word: backside 
Culprit: meaning

The word has only one meaning to native speakers. It’s what you sit on. It does not refer to the back of a building. A backside must belong to a person or an animal, so saying, “Let’s go see the backside” is actually very inappropriate!

Word: buffet 
Culprit: pronunciation

“Would you like to go the HO-tel and have the BOO-fay?” is something you may hear on the weekends in Delhi or Lahore. We’ve already discussed how HO-tel is a place for sleeping, but what about the infamous BOO-fay dinner? You need to keep in mind that French words that have come into English are not pronounced like English words. ‘Buffet’ is pronounced with a short ‘u’ sound like in the words bus, fuss, must and bun. There is no long ‘oo’ sound in the word, and the stress is correctly placed on the second syllable. Improve your English and learn how to invite your friends our for a buffet dinner correctly!

Phrase: What is your good name? 
Culprit: history

My favorite response to this one, “Well can I ask you your BAD name?” I know people are trying to be polite, but native speakers of English do not say, “What is your good name sir?” It makes you sound dated and old-fashioned. It was widely used as writing element in past centuries. You may want to go back to the times of aristocracy, but this phrase is not set to make a come-back soon. The correct way to ask someone’s name would be to just say, “What’s your name?” or “Could you tell me your name please?”

If this article has helped you, please leave a comment. I have a big long list of other words and phrases commonly misused by English speakers in the subcontinent, so if there’s an audience for these articles I’ll write more!