Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
I've made that error myself. An easy test is to substitute it is or it has for its or it's and see if the sentence still makes sense.
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The reason it is so confusing is because it goes against the normal use of the apostrophe. In all other words the apostrophe is used to indicate a possessive but not with "it's." For myself, just like DNSB, I say it to myself to see which is correct.
A related issue I've had is with a period and the closing quotation mark. If I'm using quotation marks to indicate that I'm quoting what someone said, the problem I've had is that if the quote is an incomplete sentence and it is at the end of the sentence, should the closing period be before the closing quotation mark or after the closing quotation mark. I'm thinking it should go after the closing quotation mark because it is not part of the quotation, and if I do put it before the closing quotation it would mislead someone to think that the quotation is a complete sentence.