英语听力精选进阶版 7960

Fei Yang has emailed us with this week’s question. She wants to know the difference between it’s and its.

It’s

This is two words joined together – usually it and is. The apostrophe takes the place of the i in is. This kind of word is called a contraction¹.

So you could say it’s hot today, which is the contracted form of it is hot today.

Other contractions² are things like I’ll (I will), he’d (he would) and they’ve (they have).

It’s can also be a contraction of it and has when used in the present perfect tense. The apostrophe takes the place of the h and the a in has.

For example, it’s been raining is the contracted form of it has been raining.

Its

This form of its is a possessive pronoun. I, you, his, her, we, they are all pronouns but possessive pronouns are my, your, his, her, our and their.

I have a pen – it is my pen.

We have a house – it is our house.

Its is the possessive pronoun of it. It is used for animals, objects and basically anything we don't know the gender³ of. So you would say:

The dog ate its food very quickly.

Look at that car – its windows are broken.

We hoped we answered your question for you Fei. If anyone has a question about the English language, we can answer it for you.

Glossary 词汇

joined together 词与连起来

apostrophe （英语中的）瞥号，省字号

contraction 缩略

contracted form 缩略形式

present perfect tense 现在完成式

form 形式

possessive pronoun 表示所属关系的代词

objects 宾语

gender 性别

1 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

2 contractions   

n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩

参考例句：

• Contractions are much more common in speech than in writing. 缩略词在口语里比在书写中常见得多。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Muscle contractions are powered by the chemical adenosine triphosphate(ATP ). 肌肉收缩是由化学物质三磷酸腺苷(ATP)提供动力的。 来自辞典例句

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。