Is It “its”? No, It Is “it’s”

Make sure your transcription service provider does the following:

* Writes out contractions when the spoken speech consists of contractions. People usually speak with contractions – like saying “didn’t” instead of “did not”. But for some reason transcriptionists can be prone to writing it out as “did not” even though the contraction was used. So when someone says “won’t”, it should be written that way rather than “will not”. Same for “he’s” rather than “he is,” or “that’s” rather than “that is,” etc. However, often the speaker says something like “Mary’s going to the ….” In that case, it should be written out as “Mary is going to the…” (even if it sounds like the speaker said “Mary’s). That way, it eliminates any confusion over whether it means Mary’s — i.e. possessive, like Mary’s car.

* Correctly differentiates between “it’s” and “its”. A common error is writing its vs. it’s. “Its” is possessive – indicating something that belongs to something such as “its button” or “its handle.” By contrast, “it’s” is a contraction for “it is”. A good way to know the difference is to determine whether one can say “it is” with whatever is being said. If so, then it’s “it’s.” If not, then it’s “its.”

* Inserts a question mark when the speaker’s tone of voice indicates a question. Make sure there’s no period when there should be a question mark.