Saturday, April 2, 2011

IT'S NOT YOUR

This has absolutely nothing to do with being a future wife. As a matter of fact, it's totally off the subject but something that drives me so batty, I had to express it somewhere. For those of you reading this, who know me personally, you know my disdain for the incorrect use of the word "your" when it should be "you're". I'm not sure when "your" became the replacement for "you're" but it's running rampant. Case in point: "Your Invited" on a "professionally" designed invitation or silly banter with the quip "Your silly". You see what's wrong with those pictures? Yep, in both cases, "you're" should be used instead of "your", so they should read: "You're Invited" and "You're silly".

A quick lesson: According to E Learn English Language, "Your is the second person possessive adjective, used to describe something as belonging to you.Your is nearly always followed by a noun. You're is the contraction of "you are" and is often followed by the present participle (verb form ending in -ing)". And the bottom line (also according to E Learning Language), "The confusion between your and you're occurs because the two words are pronounced pretty much the same.The ironclad rule - no exceptions - is that if you're able to replace the word with "you are," you're saying you're. Otherwise, your only choice is your."

I really hope this madness stops. I mean, it may seem minor but what about the person who's using "your" when it should be "you're" on their cover letter and they don't realize that's probably the reason they didn't get a call back? And our dear youth, who apparently aren't being corrected for the misuse of "your". They can't be turning in their homework with that being overlooked, can they? I mean, there are serious ramifications to this and it really needs to stop. Ok, I'm being dramatic now but you get my point.

Anywho, I'd seen too many "yours" when it should have been "you're" this morning, got fed up and decided to post about it. This vent has been long overdue. I feel better now :-)

Here are some examples of the correct usage of your and you're (taken from above cited website):

YOUR
What is your name?
Is this your pen?
Your book is on the table.
This is your chair and this is mine.
What happened to your dog?
Your being here is causing some problems.

YOU'RE
You're going to be late.
Is that what you're wearing?
I think you're lying.
If you're ready, we can go.
I can't believe you're a doctor!
When you're my age, you'll understand.

Do you have a grammatical pet peeve? Please share.

3 comments:

  1. This drives me nuts too! You're = you are! Not that hard people. :) Another common one is there, their, they're...I notice that a lot of people use "there" all the time, but that one doesn't drive me as crazy as the your/you're for some reason. Happy I'm not the only one who is annoyed by this!

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  2. @Rebecca: lol You're right. It's really not that hard. I've seen the "there" mix ups too but the "your" drives me crazy. No, you are not the only one annoyed by it.

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  3. conversate! ugh! IT'S NOT A WORD!

    sequence instead of sequins

    I had a guy tell me I was 'dramatical'...

    Shall I go on?!?!

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