it’s its /ɪts/


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This month at Pronunciation Studio we’re talking about apostrophes’ influence on pronunciation, starting with the word /ɪts/. The pronunciation of /ɪts/ is always the same, regardless how it’s written, but its written form can contain an apostrophe.

What’s the rule?

Have a look at this sentence, what is the function in each version of /ɪts/:

The lion’s eaten its breakfast and now it’s eating your lunch!

  • the apostrophe in < it’s > always indicates something missing: it’s an abbreviation of either “it is” or “it has”.
  • < its > is always possessive, whilst English normally uses an apostrophe for a possessive word, pronouns don’t follow the rule – “hers” “his” “theirs” etc.

So simply remember, never use an apostrophe for possession with /ɪts/.

Exercise


Now have a go: decide whether the /ɪts/ in each sentence should be < its > or < it’s >:

  1. /ɪts/ such a lovely day!
  2. Why haven’t you removed /ɪts/ cover?
  3. I must say that /ɪts/ been very difficult.
  4. /ɪts/ over there, next to the boiler.
  5. They’re working to improve /ɪts/ performance.
  6. Where’s /ɪts/ name from?
  7. Doesn’t /ɪts/ guarantee cover it if /ɪts/ been in a fire?
  8. /ɪts/ /ɪts/ name I don’t like!
1. it’s  2. its  3. it’s  4. it’s  5. its  6. its  7. its it’s  8. it’s its
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