Its
& It's
Its
means of or belonging to it.
It's is
the contraction of "it is."
It's just
amazing the way the dog can sense when its
owner is about to come home.
Their
& They're
Their
means of or relating to them.
They're
is the contraction of "they are."
They're flying
to Chicago to visit their
cousins.
Whose
& Who's
Whose
means of or relating to whom.
Who's
is the contraction of "who is" or
"who has."
Whose
turn is it to pick up the guest who's
arriving on the 2:00 train?
Your
& You're
Your
means of or relating to you or yourself.
You're
is the contraction of "you are."
You're
doing a fabulous job sticking to your
diet.
Advice
& Advise
Advice
is a noun that means guidance or counsel.
Advise
is a verb that means to counsel or give advice
to.
My advice
to you is that you advise
your staff to answer the telephone promptly.
Complement
& Compliment
Complement
(as a noun) means something that completes;
complement
(as a verb) means to complete.
Compliment
(as a noun) means praise or a favorable remark;
compliment
(as a verb) means to praise.
"I
would like to compliment
the chef," said Ralph, "for the way
the flavors of this dish complement
each other so perfectly."
Insure,
Ensure & Assure
While
all 3 of these words relate to guaranteeing
that something is true or that something will
happen, there are subtle differences in their
usages:
Assure
means to say, write or confirm the guarantee.
Ensure
means to do something to make certain that something
happens.
Insure
means to guarantee something with insurance
or other financial instruments.
"Let me
assure
you that there's no need to worry," he
said. "While your firewall will ensure
that hackers don't get into your system, this
new policy will insure
you against loss in case your system goes down."
