Confusable

What is a good mnemonic rule that an English learner can use to remember the difference between **its** (possessive adjective: *a team has started its lunch*) and **it's** (verb: *it's raining*)?

I often confuse *lay* and *laid*. For instance, in selecting the appropriate word in these contexts:> She lay/laid a hand on his arm. He lay/laid across the bench lazily. We lay/laid down... more