Quote:
Originally Posted by Solitaire1
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."
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This is one of those rules of English which cause confusion when people were only ever taught part of it, but which are quite straightforward when you understand the whole thing.
An apostrophe is used to indicate a possessive with nouns (including proper nouns), but _not for pronouns_. "It" is a pronoun, just like "him" or "her" or "me". So "him" -> "his", "her" -> "hers", "it" -> its.
(Another example of this half-a-rule is "i before e", the exceptions to which almost all vanish when you remember the second half of the rule: "...but only when it rhymes with bee".)