Sunday, March 13, 2016

Incorrect use of "your" for "you're"




Much like the misuse of it's for its, the misuse of your for you're annoys the hell out of me, and I don't know why people don't know the difference. I learned the two distinctly different words back in...oh...first grade?!

Your means "belonging to you," as in:

"Your right hand is broken."
"Did you bring your purse?"
"What is your favorite food?"

On the other hand, you're is a contraction of you are, as in:

"You're right about that."
"Do you know which movie you're going to see?"
"When you're eating chocolate, you're very happy!"

If you're unsure of which word to use, just think about it like this:

- your needs to be followed by the name of an object:

your hand
your house
your phone
your daughter
your spouse

- you're describes something you are doing:

you're right about that
you're going to the store
you're watching TV
you're very intelligentyou're playing soccer

Both words in one sentence:

"You're taking good care of your new phone."

It's really not that difficult!

Still not sure which word is correct? Please post a comment below, or contact us on Twitter.


1 comment:

  1. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, too!

    ReplyDelete