Would the word "its" need an apostrophe in the following sentence: A dog looked for its owner?

The word "its" is a possessive pronoun, placing it in the same grammatical family as words like "his," "her," and "their." These pronouns show ownership and, importantly, they never use an apostrophe. In our example, the owner belongs to the dog, so the possessive "its" is the correct choice. The version with an apostrophe, "it's," is a completely different word: a contraction for "it is" or "it has." A foolproof way to check your usage is to try substituting "it is" into the sentence. "A dog looked for it is owner" is nonsensical, confirming that no apostrophe is needed.

This is one of the most common errors in the English language, primarily because it feels like an exception to a major rule. We learn to add an apostrophe and an "s" to show possession for most nouns (e.g., "the dog's collar"). Pronouns, however, follow their own set of rules. Just as you would never write "hi's" or "her's," "its" functions as a complete possessive word on its own, no apostrophe required.

If you struggle to remember the difference, try this simple trick: think of the apostrophe in "it's" as the stand-in for the missing letter "i" in the word "is." If the sentence still makes sense with "it is," then "it's" is your word. If you are showing ownership, like a car and its features, there is no missing letter to replace, and therefore no need for an apostrophe.