Words, words and more words....

[flamingfingers]

In school decades ago, I was taught "it's, its' and its"

it's = it is
"It's time for lunch."

its' = possession by neuter gender or nonperson
"The dog wags its' tail." "The crowd shouted its' approval."

its = belonging to a thing
"Its color is not important,"

Language has evolved so the 2nd usage has been dropped. Now it is simply 'it's = it is' and 'its = belonging to a thing.'

[Lady tehMa]

I am old enough that I remember spelling a word a particular way, "Hallowe'en". Now it is just "Halloween", but a part of me grumbles at it.

[just popping in]

I always have to look up the uses of some words, e.g. stationery/stationary; canvas/canvass; however, I always know the uses of dessert/desert for some strange reason.

[oneh2obabe]

What is the difference between wether, weather, and whether?

Wether - a wether is a castrated ram (male sheep).
Weather - weather refers to the state of the atmosphere (e.g., temperature, wind, clouds, rain).
Whether - whether is a conjunction with a similar meaning to if (e.g., I wonder whether it will rain.)