learn the rule: your / you're
- your is a possessive adjective, indicating ownership of something
- That is your sock.
- Where is your potato?
- you're is a contraction (combination) of you and are
- Do you know what you're doing?
- You're stupid.
- The two are not interchangeable.
- Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly.
still confused? let ross explain it for you.
Friends clip courtesy of and © Warner Bros.
rant box - let it all out
Nats said What about the people that get 'OUR' and 'ARE' mixed up? You wouldn't think it's possible, but I think I'm the only person who's noticed the sign on a local tattoo parlour stated "Visit are website". Only a dumbass would want to get inked there.
Elissa said There is a sign that I constantly drive by, which has been up for about nine years running. Apparently there used to be a vegetable stand there (there isn't one any more, but they've kept the sign up anyway). And on the sign is this gem: "VEGIE'S." Wow. I'm not even going to bother asking who or what you are, but way to get possessive, Vegie. This next sign has been taken down now, but I found it even more amusing. At a plaza near my school, there used to be a children's boutique called Alphabet Soup. Now, from the name, it sounds all right enough, but on the sign, it said "Book's, Toy's, and Clothing's for Children." All the unnecessary apostrophes are bad enough, but hey! Why not tack an 's' onto 'clothing,' which is already plural, and then throw an apostrophe in there just to spruce things up a bit?
Charley said Brilliant. Another one that really really goes through me is "definately". IT'S DEFINITELY! How hard is it, really?
Ken said Let's change this up! There are three words in the english language that end in gry...angry, hungry and ___?
frass said Theirs is definitely a word as demonstrated so clearly by Amy.
frass said And on the spelled and spelt thing? It's British and they do indeed write spelt and learnt. It looks odd to us - a little less odd to us Canadians, but odd nonetheless.
frass said Hey world! Stop saying you "feel badly" about something. You feel bad. Makes me crazy. If you feel badly, you're doing a bad job of feeling and that just won't do.
sack said no. those are who these simple grammar and usage rules paid attention in middle school.
kt said more than half of you are just as guilty as the people you're complaining about. cease and desist.
Amy said Spelled and spelt are both perfectly acceptable words. As are dreamed and dreamt/learned and learnt. 'Theirs' is also a word. "It's not mine, it's theirs" "Are you a friend of theirs?" "Theirs is the largest house on the block". Pretending to know grammar rules and lecturing people about them (when you're wrong) is just as bad as people who use incorrect words due to plain ignorance.
tornado girl said 3rd Grade California State Content Teaching Standards Spelling Standard 1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair, hare, their, there, they're, your, you're)
Tracie Davis said THIS IS THE BEST WEBSITE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED!!!!! :-D
Matt said Len... spelt is spelled... and theirs is not a word... THEIR is already possessive, yes, it is also already plural!
Dave said The tinyurl link on the right hand side doesn't work. It says "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/" but the url is "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/%22"
Richard Everett Planck said Even the complainers get it wrong. It's not spelled 'spelt'; it's spelled 'spelled'. I have given up because the light at the end of the tunnel no longer burns.
Michelle said Worst abuse of apostrophes I've seen... before AND after an 's'...just in case! ARGGHHHH!
Michael TC said A valiant cause, but I think most of the time - especially on the internet - the disregard of this most basic rule is simply a product of laziness, not ignorance.
OCDGrammarFreak said on mothers day, one of my friends said "happy mother's day to all the mother's out their".. it too me everything o have not to correct her.. and i even cringed writing it now..
Pretty me :) said Addicting is a verb.. the food is not addicting.. the food is addictive. addictive. Its an adjective.
PimpMaster9999 said your all st00pid i cn tipe hoawrvr i wantz
Desmond Pereira said I love this website - when did it all go wrong? Was it Gen Y who started it?
Sally said Bigrob and Jordo, the words "spelt" and "learnt" are perfectly good words, just different spellings of "spelled" and "learned". It is used in England quite often.
Steve said Definately is not a word.... it just isn't... it never has been...
Dougal said My sister SMSed me and said "your going to be an Uncle again" I ranted to my kids for 10 minutes about how it should be "you're" not "your"... and only then remembered to tell them their aunt was pregnant
Dougal said I decided it was better to just let it go rather than correct a friend who posted "says your damned if you do and your damned if you don't." as a facebook status... but it still hurts
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Iain said Add a few: do/due peak/peek/pique principle/principal
Poyan said what about Where and Were??
Mia said please realize (realise) there are spelling differences between the queens english and american english
Elissa said There is a sign that I constantly drive by, which has been up for about nine years running. Apparently there used to be a vegetable stand there (there isn't one any more, but they've kept the sign up anyway). And on the sign is this gem: "VEGIE'S." Wow. I'm not even going to bother asking who or what you are, but way to get possessive, Vegie. This next sign has been taken down now, but I found it even more amusing. At a plaza near my school, there used to be a children's boutique called Alphabet Soup. Now, from the name, it sounds all right enough, but on the sign, it said "Book's, Toy's, and Clothing's for Children." All the unnecessary apostrophes are bad enough, but hey! Why not tack an 's' onto 'clothing,' which is already plural, and then throw an apostrophe in there just to spruce things up a bit?
Charley said Brilliant. Another one that really really goes through me is "definately". IT'S DEFINITELY! How hard is it, really?
Ken said Let's change this up! There are three words in the english language that end in gry...angry, hungry and ___?
frass said Theirs is definitely a word as demonstrated so clearly by Amy.
frass said And on the spelled and spelt thing? It's British and they do indeed write spelt and learnt. It looks odd to us - a little less odd to us Canadians, but odd nonetheless.
frass said Hey world! Stop saying you "feel badly" about something. You feel bad. Makes me crazy. If you feel badly, you're doing a bad job of feeling and that just won't do.
sack said no. those are who these simple grammar and usage rules paid attention in middle school.
kt said more than half of you are just as guilty as the people you're complaining about. cease and desist.
Amy said Spelled and spelt are both perfectly acceptable words. As are dreamed and dreamt/learned and learnt. 'Theirs' is also a word. "It's not mine, it's theirs" "Are you a friend of theirs?" "Theirs is the largest house on the block". Pretending to know grammar rules and lecturing people about them (when you're wrong) is just as bad as people who use incorrect words due to plain ignorance.
tornado girl said 3rd Grade California State Content Teaching Standards Spelling Standard 1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair, hare, their, there, they're, your, you're)
Tracie Davis said THIS IS THE BEST WEBSITE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED!!!!! :-D
Matt said Len... spelt is spelled... and theirs is not a word... THEIR is already possessive, yes, it is also already plural!
Dave said The tinyurl link on the right hand side doesn't work. It says "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/" but the url is "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/%22"
Richard Everett Planck said Even the complainers get it wrong. It's not spelled 'spelt'; it's spelled 'spelled'. I have given up because the light at the end of the tunnel no longer burns.
Michelle said Worst abuse of apostrophes I've seen... before AND after an 's'...just in case! ARGGHHHH!
Michael TC said A valiant cause, but I think most of the time - especially on the internet - the disregard of this most basic rule is simply a product of laziness, not ignorance.
OCDGrammarFreak said on mothers day, one of my friends said "happy mother's day to all the mother's out their".. it too me everything o have not to correct her.. and i even cringed writing it now..
Pretty me :) said Addicting is a verb.. the food is not addicting.. the food is addictive. addictive. Its an adjective.
PimpMaster9999 said your all st00pid i cn tipe hoawrvr i wantz
Desmond Pereira said I love this website - when did it all go wrong? Was it Gen Y who started it?
Sally said Bigrob and Jordo, the words "spelt" and "learnt" are perfectly good words, just different spellings of "spelled" and "learned". It is used in England quite often.
Steve said Definately is not a word.... it just isn't... it never has been...
Dougal said My sister SMSed me and said "your going to be an Uncle again" I ranted to my kids for 10 minutes about how it should be "you're" not "your"... and only then remembered to tell them their aunt was pregnant
Dougal said I decided it was better to just let it go rather than correct a friend who posted "says your damned if you do and your damned if you don't." as a facebook status... but it still hurts
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Iain said Add a few: do/due peak/peek/pique principle/principal
Poyan said what about Where and Were??
Mia said please realize (realise) there are spelling differences between the queens english and american english
still need help?
If you need proofreading or copyediting help, please visit
