Grammarian, Up-in-Arms: It's "Its," not "It's"; it's "Your," not "You're"; etc. etc. | #Contractions #Contraction #Contracted #Contracting #Contract #Contracts

These mistakes are often made, due to the fact that most 'personal posessive nouns or -adjectives' end with an 'apostrophe-s' (Edgar's, Jay's, Claire's, McDonald's, [NAME]'s).

But an easy way to remember 'whether to use the apostrophe' is to ask (if the word is not a 'personal possessive noun or -adjective'), "Is this a contraction of two words, with the apostrophe taking the place of letters we leave out?"

That word (the 'built' one below)—there might be something more to that word ... something crucial that firms the foundation upon which the our lexicon stands ...

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The word “Contraction” is built on “With, Together + to |Draw (|Tract)” (|Becoming |Shorter or |Smaller through the drawing together of the |Parts, Acquiring a Disease, Involuntary |Action of the Uterus in |Labor of Childbirth).

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Examples:
• It's (It Is)/Its (belonging to It)
• You're (You Are)/Your (belonging to You) 
• They're (They Are)/Their (belonging to Them) ... not forgetting 'There'
• ... any others?

You know something about that word-history that

 I don't mention (and that probably isn't mentioned

 below)? 'Fill us in on it'- or just tell me what you

 think (or ask me about something in this- or another-

word that confuses you) with a comment below,

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