Mistaking you're for your – or vice versa – is a common typo that many people have made at least once. This error is also a grammatical error which is quite annoying and confusing to the reader. Luckily, once you know how to tell the difference between the two, you'll rarely make this mistake again.
Step
Method 1 of 1: Using You're and Your
Step 1. Understand the correct use of the word you need
The best way to do this is to say it. There is a word replacement test that will tell you exactly which word is the right one. Read the sentence by replacing your or you're with you are. If the sentence sounds reasonable, the correct word is you're. Otherwise, the correct word is your. You can also replace your with my in a sentence. If they match, use your.
Step 2. Create a reminder help to help you distinguish these words
Reminder assistance is a tool that helps you remember something. You may find this reminder help useful when you are remembering the difference between you're and your. Elements such as parallelism and vivid imagery are usually effective means of reminder.
- Remember the sentence If you're writing it you're, you're writing it right. You do something while you write. Thus, the abbreviation you're correct.
- You can also try sentences like Your Outraged Unicorn Race, where the first letter indicates the correct use of the word cell. Because the unicorn is yours then they're your unicorns.
Step 3.
Write you're as an abbreviation or a combination of the words you and are.
Other examples of abbreviations are doesn't for does not, they're for they are, and can't for cannot.
- You're a good friend means you are a good friend.
- I don't know what you're talking about means I do not know what you are talking about.
Remember that you're is actually a combination of two words. Thus, this word fills two very important roles in a sentence or clause. Because this word includes both a pronoun and a verb, you're will always be the subject and at least part of any verb clause that uses it.
Write your as the ownership form of you. The form of possession refers to something that someone has, something that the person in the sentence has, or the person you are talking to. Your denotes ownership, like yours, mine, and ours.
- Is your stomach growling?
- Your book is on the table.
Remember that the word cell is usually not followed by an adjective. In most cases, your will not be followed by an adjective (a word that describes something) when it describes the person you are talking to.
In other words, saying Your very kind is almost never true. Your very kind is only true when someone is describing a noun, as in the sentence Your nice son brought me my coat. Here, the use of your nice is correct because nice describes someone's son
Take a look at some examples. Each of the following examples demonstrates the incorrect use of your or you're and its errors.
-
I can't read you're handwriting.
Wrong, because the abbreviation for you are used as the possessive form of you. I can't read you are handwriting makes no sense. That word should have been replaced with your.
-
if your hungry, then you should probably eat something.
Wrong, because there is no ownership in the sentence. You may be hungry, but in English, you don't "have" hunger. This sentence passed the word replacement test. You can rewrite sentences with you are. The word your should be replaced with you're or you are
-
I think your very smart.
Again, wrong. Very smart does not belong to the person you are talking to – this sentence makes no sense. Replace your with you're or you are
-
I'm smarter than you're.
That's right, because the abbreviation for you are used as the possessive form of you. However, this uncommon usage may confuse people. So, avoid ending a sentence with you're, even if the grammar is correct
Tips
- Remember the sentence You're not spelling your words correctly which uses the words you're and your.
- Remember that the word your is never followed by the words the, a, or an.
- Simple grammatical errors, such as using your and you're, can make it difficult for others to view your writing, such as essays and resumes. You better learn how to use these words properly.
- There is another word, namely yore, which sounds the same as you're and your. Yore refers to a time in the past and is rarely used in casual conversation.
Related wikiHow Articles
- Spell
- Using English Punctuation Correctly
- Using Apostrophes in English
- Using "There", "Their", and "They're"
