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Here’s a great site for common grammar errors: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Wouldn’t it be “They’re not there”?

Here’s the easiest way I’ve found to remember the difference:

The possessive form of he is his.
He’s is a contraction for he is.

Nobody gets those mixed up, right? Well, it is the same:

The possessive form of it is its.
It’s is a contraction for it is.

Just create a mental association between its and his.

Lose, not Loose.

SERIOUSLY .

There, Their.

its – also the plural of it, as in “How many its are there in the second paragraph?” No? Ah well..

Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Bob the Angry Flower’s Quick Guide to the Apostrophe (you idiots).

@tim: Wouldn’t that be ”\”it\”s”?
—> How many “it”s are there in the second paragraph?

Amen. Misused apostrophes drive me crazy.

Lame

I’ve thought of doing this for Me or I…

Where’s their “there”. They’re looking. Wares its brother out so it’s probably hiding.

Strong Bad (of homestarrunner.com) had a song that I always remember… I know it won’t stick in anyone’s mind from just reading the lyrics, but it stuck in mine because it’s so retarded and anti-mnemonic:

If it’s supposed to be possessiiiive, it’s just I-T-S. (And) If it’s supposed to be a contractioooon, it’s I-T-apostrophe-S! (Scalawag!)

Ah! Youtube failed me, but the Homestar Wiki rescured me! Here’s the mp3: http://www.hrwiki.org/mirror/sb_itsits.mp3

Another one I hear all the time is getting the subject and object forms of pronouns – like “I” and “me” – mixed up when you’re talking about two people. “Me and her went to the movies.”

Best mnemonic I’ve learned for that? Take out the other person and see if it still sounds right. “Me went to the movies.” Oops.

LOL

Joshua Sierles’ hammer or is it…. Joshua Sierles’s hammer

i dunno

Richard Green put “Basic and Advanced You’re” on the web some ten years ago, possibly longer, yet it remains the canonical resource for when you want to email something pedagogical to an idiot.

I preface this comment by saying that I love 37s and think you guys are the bomb.

But the less/fewer stuff drives me nuts (though I understand why you do it).

Your and you’re. I can’t stand it when people get that one wrong…

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe/topics?lnk

Singlehandedly redeems USENET .