Few mistakes appear as often as mixing up its and it’s. The good news is that there is an easy test.
The expand test
Replace the word with it is or it has. If the sentence still makes sense, use it’s. If it does not, use its.
- It’s raining. (It is raining.)
- The cat licked its paw. (The cat licked it is paw? No, so use its.)
Remember this
Possessive pronouns such as his, hers, ours and its never take an apostrophe. Try the test in your next piece of writing and see how often it helps.