See this headline: proper usage, but difficult to parse. “It’s” = “it is”, exclusively. The origin of this “exception” rule?
In: 6
The “official” answer tends to be that it’s because “it” and “its” are pronouns, while “table” and “table’s” are nouns. This is a reasonable way of remembering the rule, but it doesn’t explain why.
The answer is that English is just totally irregular, with a veneer of regularity added by people in the last couple of centuries because they like math and Latin, and think English should be more like math and Latin. These so-called rules are often conceived wrongly, but schoolteachers have loved them, so here we are.
Apostrophes are a fairly recent invention compared to the age of the language itself, and their use has changed a lot. And obviously they are completely unnecessary for comprehension. We do just fine speaking without them. My advice when seeing a rule that is inconsistent in English is just to understand it’s a naturally evolving language, do your best to follow the rules so that pedants don’t throw out your job applications, and worry about something more important, like why is a raven like a writing desk.
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