Thursday 17 March 2016

Your/you're & they're/there/their

Your/you’re is a never-ending problem.

Sure, it’s quicker (by barely a second) to write “your” without the extra "e" and the apostrophe, but it simply won’t make sense if you’re using it in the wrong way. And if you’re making this mistake in a formal setting or in a work-related context, it might be viewed as kind of lazy, especially since it’s a very basic thing to know.

This is really all you need to remember:
“you’re” exists only because it is a contraction of “you are”.
Therefore, you should be using “you’re” any time you need to say “you are”. If you don’t need to say “you are”, then don’t use it. Use “your” instead.
"Your" is a possessive pronoun. 

“Your stupid” doesn’t make sense unless you’re referring to that person’s type of stupid, which is honestly kind of a weird thing to write.

“You’re cat is cute” also doesn’t make sense because it literally means “you are cat is cute”. This example is less common, but yeah, it happens.

I know we like to be lazy sometimes, or if we’re just really tired we write the wrong one out of habit. But if you’re doing it because you don’t actually understand the rule, I hope this helps to clear it up. If you don't care, I hope you find a reason to.

Always remember that where contractions are used, there’s a reason they’re there. Oh! I just unintentionally segued into another important issue!

They’re/there/their is just as troublesome. So, let me cover that quickly too.

Again, “they’re” only exists because it means “they are”. Use it when you’re saying “they are”, and not for any other reason.
“There” is the place you’re going.
"Their” is for ownership. Pretty simple.

“They’re house is on fire” doesn’t work because “they are house is on fire” just doesn’t make sense.

So, let's use all of the above correctly in sentences:

They’re going over there to pick up their takeaway. Then you’re going to have to go to Liquorland to get your booze.”

Now hopefully I've educated you AND inspired your Friday night plans.








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