Still having trouble with "its" and "it's"? You are not the only one.

While shopping on the Internet this week, I came across two websites that have not figured out how to use its and it's correctly. The first was the teavana.com website that offers wonderful, high quality green tea at great prices. In advertising their product, someone wrote:

Green tea has long been praised for it's health benefits.

I agree about the tea, but it's WITH the apostrophe is not the possessive form. It can only be used where you can replace it's with "it is" or "it has." That does not work here. You would not say, "Green tea has long been praised for 'it is' health benefits (or praised for 'it has' health benefits). The sentence should read this way:

Green tea has long been praised for its health benefits.

After ordering my tea, I moved on to hydrangeas. We are thinking about putting some in our side yard, and I wanted to check on the best season for planting them. On a website with beautiful photos and great information, I saw the following sentence about the Annabelle variety of hydrangea:

Annabelle seems to be variable in the quality of it's bloom.

This sentence has the same problem as the "tea" sentence. It is referring to the bloom OF THE Annabelle variety. Therefore, it needs the possessive form to show that the bloom belongs to the Annabelle.

Most of us would never consider putting an apostrophe in HIS, HERS, OURS, THEIRS, YOURS, so why do we persist in putting one in ITS when it is possessive? The sentence should read as follows:

Annabelle seems to be variable in the quality of its bloom.

I hope these examples are helpful. It's (It has) been fun trying to explain this grammar rule and its two different usages.