A question I get a lot on the blog is: when should I use their vs its?
Well, in today’s post we are going to cover that question. We will also look at some example sentences.
Let’s begin.
When to use “their” in a sentence
Their is the possessive form of the word they. It is used to express that something belongs to more than person.
For example:
Mary and Amy lost their books at school.
Brad and Jason told me I could borrow their game for the weekend.
That house on the corner is their house.
Everyone has to make their own decision.
I didn’t know that was their dog.
I was in their car.
Their house is bigger than ours.
Going to the movies after school was their idea, not mine.
“Their” can also be used to refer to something that belongs to someone, but that person is unspecified or not known at the time. Usually the word “their” will follow the word, someone.
For example:
It looks like someone didn’t finish their lunch today.
I see that someone forgot to turn off the lights.
Someone left their backpack in the classroom.
When to use “its” in a sentence
The word “its” is a possessive noun meaning that something belongs to it. Keep in mind that the noun it is singular and thus would be replaced with its when you want to express possession.
For example:
The dog is in its house.
I saw the dog chasing its tail.
The bear was being followed by its two baby cubs.
Should I Use Their or Its For A Company?
A company is usually thought of as a single entity, thus its would be used to replace the company name. However, their could be used when you want to a number of people or groups that work within a company. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few examples:
Google is well known for its search engine google.com
In order to send items quickly, Amazon has its warehouses around the world.
The managers at Google want to have their meeting in the main boardroom.
