Sunday, January 16, 2011

When is a Your a You're?

I've been browsing Facebook lately and I can't help but be amused with titles like, "YOUR in a Relationship..." or feedback like"Your welcome!" What wrong with these, people?

The word 'your' is a second-person pronoun that denotes possession or ownership. Therefore, you use it to denote possession. 'Your' should only be used when the next word is a noun. Examples are: your bag, your shoes, your indecision, your lack of concern, your joy, your sadness.

On the other hand, "you're" is a CONTRACTION. It's the short form of "you are". Therefore, the next word should either be an adjective, a verb, or an adverb. 'You're' is used just as 'It's','we're','they're' and the rest of contracted words.

Now, to blog about this is not to point out the mistakes of any person here. I just feel that a lot of people, no matter how good their English speaking skills are, tend to forget these little things that actually matter. Any alteration may already mean another meaning. Further knowledge won't hurt, will it?

So a your is a you're when I actually mean you are and your is a your when I want to point out to something you have.

Makes sense?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I doent kare wat u thinc it whent throo the spel chekr sow I'm n't reesponzibull fore it.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! Down with Spell Checker! It's not following grammar rules. :)