They’re is easy but I’ve given up on “Its”.
And forget pronouns. Even newscasters often get “I” and “me” wrong. I remember years ago when I worked at a large law firm and one of the attorneys was leading a meeting. She said “If there are any questions, just call Jeff or I”. I wanted to smack her.
Its/it’s is easy.
“It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” So, if “it is” would make sense, use “it’s.” Example: It’s a nice day. (The sentence, “It is a nice day,” makes sense.)
“Its” is possessive.
Example: The company laid off half of its employees. (You need to use a possessive since the sentence refers to the company’s employees. It would be incorrect to use “it’s” here because, “The company laid off half of it is employees,” doesn’t make sense.)
Now if I can just overcome my lifelong addiction to, using, way, too, many, commas, people, would, surely, appreciate, it.
That's easy. When it's "it is", it's "it's", when it's not, it's "its"... ;-)