Its vs. It’s

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Hi, my name is Mandesa and welcome to TransLegal's lesson of the week.

This week I'm going to be talking about the distinction or difference between “its” and “it's”. My colleagues and I at TransLegal have realised that for non-native English speakers this can be quite a confusing distinction.

In a nutshell, “its” refers to possession whereas “it's” refers to or is a shortened form of 'it is'. To illustrate this difference we can talk about a court decision.

For example, we can talk about:

“the court's decision" or "its decision" – its, which means the decision of the court.

However, when we then speak about what this decision was we can say, "it's the decision of the court" or "it is the decision of the court" – it's.

Thank you very much. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the box below and either myself or one of my colleagues will be more than happy to respond.