Which option correctly identifies the possessive form used to indicate ownership in a sentence about a restaurant's signature item?

• A. it's
• B. its
• C. its'
• D. its's

Answer: (B)

Ownership is shown with a possessive determiner before a noun. For something like a restaurant, the possessive is its, not it's, because it's a contraction for “it is” or “it has,” not a possessive on a noun. So you’d write: The restaurant unveiled its signature item. Its lets you show that the signature item belongs to the restaurant without repeating the noun. The other forms aren’t correct possessive spellings in standard English: it's would change the meaning to “it is” or “it has,” and its' or its's aren’t valid. If you wanted a different construction, you could say “the restaurant's signature item,” but that uses a different possessive construction.