Writing: Pronoun person and number — Basic example

in order for emperor penguin chicks to survive the harsh weather in Antarctica its parents share the responsibilities of incubating the eggs and traveling to the ocean to gather food all right so let's look at the it's right over here it's parents so it's it's is this right over here it's is a singular possessive pronoun singular possessive possessive pronoun which is just a fancy way of saying it's referring to one individual thing possessing something now here are we referring to one individual thing possessing something are we talking about one things parents well let's look over here in order for it for emperor penguin chicks emperor penguin chicks to survive so we're talking about many penguins parents so it doesn't make sense to have singular possessive pronoun the singular possessive pronoun would make sense if it said in order for an emperor penguin chick to survive the harsh weather and Antarctica its parent so if this was just they're just talking about one chick but they're talking about many chicks so we're going to need a plural we're going to need a plural possessive possessive pronoun and the one we would use is their their so in order for emperor penguin chicks we're talking about many things to survive the harsh weather and Antarctica their parents share so this is going to be their their parents share the responsibilities of incubating the eggs and traveling to the ocean to gather food so that's this choice right over here so once again we rule out this one because that would be if we're talking about one penguin chicks mug parents we're talking about many penguin chicks parents and so an it with an apostrophe s you might be tempted to think that this is possessive and this would still even if you were kind of confusing it with it's right over here this one actually here's the contraction so it apostrophe s is a contraction for is a contraction for it it is and the way that I remember is it's is like his or her it's you just you don't you know you wouldn't write his like that you would write his or you would write her and it is just if you're not trying to talk about the gender of whatever is possessing things so her his it's in any of these situations that you wouldn't have an apostrophe it's with the apostrophe that is it is now we already talked about there as being a plural possessive pronoun and the right answer here and then you have there which sounds exactly the same but it is spelled th ER e and that one you would say hey I didn't go there so you're it's a it's a it's a different word it sounds the same but it's spelled differently and it has a different meeting and you know this is actually an embarrassing mistake that I've made many times on emails when I'm typing real fast is where I'll type I'll use this for this I'll use this there for that there that there for this there so always double check your your emails for that when I this I know it's a mistake that I've done many times inadvertently anyway hopefully enjoyed that