The its The knees their bee’s knees bees’ The its The their computer’s computers’ functions functions her n/a n/a Robyn’s office We do not use apostrophes before an in plural nouns where there is no ‘s’ possession. A point of confusion The words that cause the most confusion when using apostrophes are its. and it’s the apostrophe denotes a missing letter (i.e. short form of it is) It’s – Its is used to show possession but has no apostrophe (e.g. Its ears are big). – Commonly confused words The English language can be very confusing, so hard to avoid mistakes. Some it’s commonly confused words are listed below. word confusion explanation is usually a noun. Effect e.g. There was no effect on the reaction rate. effect/affect Affect is usually verb (action). * remember for action & affect ‘a’ e.g. affected. The reaction rate was not is incorrect. is correct. ‘Would of’ ‘Would have’ would of/would have The experiment would of worked. The experiment would have worked Use few or fewer with ‘countable’ nouns. e.g. There were few errors. few/less Use with nouns. less ‘uncountable’ e.g. There was less air in the container. Use comprise without ‘of’. comprise/consist e.g. The sample comprised 42 males and 47 females.
The bee’s knees its The bees’ knees their The computer’s functions its The computers’ functions their Robyn’s office her n/a n/a We do not use apostrophes before an ‘s’ in plural nouns where there is no possession. A point of confusion The words that cause the most confusion when using apostrophes are it’s and its. It’s – the apostrophe denotes a missing letter (i.e. short form of it is) Its – is used to show possession but has no apostrophe (e.g. Its ears are big). Commonly confused words The English language can be very confusing, so it’s hard to avoid mistakes. Some commonly confused words are listed below. word confusion explanation effect/affect Effect is usually a noun. e.g. There was no effect on the reaction rate. Affect is usually verb (action). * remember ‘a’ for action & affect e.g. The reaction rate was not affected. would of/would have ‘Would of’ is incorrect. ‘Would have’ is correct. The experiment would of worked. The experiment would have worked few/less Use few or fewer with ‘countable’ nouns. e.g. There were few errors. Use less with ‘uncountable’ nouns. e.g. There was less air in the container. comprise/consist Use comprise without ‘of’. e.g. The sample comprised 42 males and 47 females.