Thread: "Your" and "you're" -- a serious issue!

I am so in agreement with you guys! It really annoys me when people use the incorrect You're or your! I don't understand how it can be so difficult to work it out!

Originally Posted by pj

It has to start somewhere. We'll begin a policy to permanently ban anybody who uses 'your' when they mean 'you're'.

They do that on the Explosm forum

Originally Posted by Merlock

people just get lazy and as a result, not consciously, while knowing that "you're" is correct, write "your" instead, since it doesn't require an apostrophe and one more letter to be typed.

When I'm not concentrating, I find myself writing you're when it should be your! I have no idea why I never get things wrong if asked a question about it, but when I'm typing I just type the wrong word.

While we're on the subject...

It's: a contraction meaning "it is"

Its: the possessive form of the prounoun "it"

I see "it's" in place of "its" all the time.

However, I don't think people should get too uptight about perfect grammar in regular conversations. I refuse to use 100% proper English in casual conversation. It can sound really stupid even though it is "correct". Examples...

- For whom was the gift? (You're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition. I completely ignore that rule when not in a formal setting.)

- The person who said that was I.

If you want to ask who a girls goes out with, it is improper to say, "Who does she go out with?" The proper way would be, "With whom out does she go?" I am NOT going to talk like that when I'm not in a formal situation. Sorry.

I offer you welcome to use whatever word you'd like. Take it, its yours.

Well, I see this mistake often.

Their is a possessive pronoun. It always describes a noun.

There is an adverb meaning "that location." It is sometimes used with the verb to be as an idiom. It is spelled like here which means "this location."

They're is a contraction of they are. Note the spelling: The a from are is replaced by an apostrophe.



And some practice if you need.

http://www.better-english.com/easier/theyre.htm

"Your welcome" can be correct in the sense "You have overstayed your welcome".

Originally Posted by skysaw

I hate to break the news to you, but "I" is correct here.
A: Who wants to go and kill Polgo with me?
B: I (want to).

Not that many people talk that way, but it is proper.

It's a sentence fragment anyway, does it even matter?

Originally Posted by Mark75

"Your welcome" can be correct in the sense "You have overstayed your welcome".



It's a sentence fragment anyway, does it even matter?

We were only discussing the "thank you... you're welcome" situation.

Yeah maybe (hopefully) a good chunk of the mistakes we see places like this forum are just typos? I've done so before.. I think I've always managed to catch myself though.

Anywayyyy... really, some of these common errors are just ridiculous. How hard is it to know these differences, especially for the native speakers?

In my opinion, people see their mistakes. They're just too lazy to fix them.

Now, Mes. It's not like any native English speaker should have learned these things in early elementary school or anything, years before they'd have reached the minimum age required to join DV in the first place.

Originally Posted by Mark75

Now, Mes. It's not like any native English speaker should have learned these things in early elementary school or anything, years before they'd have reached the minimum age required to join DV in the first place.

Say what?

Oh, right.

Originally Posted by Mark75

Now, Mes. It's not like any native English speaker should have learned these things in early elementary school or anything, years before they'd have reached the minimum age required to join DV in the first place.

Sad, isn't it?

Originally Posted by skysaw

I hate to break the news to you, but "I" is correct here.
A: Who wants to go and kill Polgo with me?
B: I (want to).

Not that many people talk that way, but it is proper.

Originally Posted by Mark75

It's a sentence fragment anyway, does it even matter?

It's not technically a sentence fragment, since the verb is implied. This is why it must be "I." Otherwise, it reconstructs to "Me want to go and kill."

Me hungry.

o' wayt A cek

/me hungry.

Your worrying too much. Lol...

Around 50% of the game FAQs I've read have all the "your" and "you're" words wrong, I know the difference between the two, even though I learned English like two years ago because it's not my native language, and I'm 15... Geez...

Originally Posted by Kraik

Around 50% of the game FAQs I've read have all the "your" and "you're" words wrong

I don`t think that`s an appropriate sample...

Originally Posted by Spartiate

I don`t think that`s an appropriate sample...

Agreed.

BTW now we know what your social life is like.

I'm all for breaking the rules of grammar and spelling for effect, especially on the internets, but you're and your takes it too far. That's just ignorance.

Your so right, guys.

Originally Posted by skysaw

It's not technically a sentence fragment, since the verb is implied. This is why it must be "I." Otherwise, it reconstructs to "Me want to go and kill."

Why can't it be "(pick) me!"?

Originally Posted by Mark75

Why can't it be "(pick) me!"?

That only works if the question is "Whom shall I pick?"

Originally Posted by Identity X

I should stay out of this. It's going to attract linguists and I'm not one.

*moth to the flame*

Grammar? Where?!?

And for the record, I routinely try to avoid a dangling participle (I think that's the correct term). I don't always succeed, as it does sound overly formal, but still. I'm bringing sexy... I mean grammar back.

Ending a sentence with a preposition is not in itself incorrect. If the preposition necessary for the meaning of the verb, it is ok. For example:

"I decided to get up." - This is correct. The verb construct is "get up," and should not be separated.

The "rule" for this was invented as a short-cut to avoid other possible problems, though it also rules out perfectly valid sentences.

Originally Posted by skysaw

Ending a sentence with a preposition is not in itself incorrect. If the preposition necessary for the meaning of the verb, it is ok. For example:

"I decided to get up." - This is correct. The verb construct is "get up," and should not be separated.

The "rule" for this was invented as a short-cut to avoid other possible problems, though it also rules out perfectly valid sentences.

That is where the English language gets really strange. There are some words that were originally prepositions but ended up being used as adverbs and require no objects. "I am going out." Just like the word "up" in the sentence you used, "out" in the sentence I used was once considered an adverb, at least in some English books. Now the verb and what was originally a preposition and later conidered also a special case adverb are treated together as a single verb. So in using those words, you are not ending sentences with what are technically prepositions, though the words are really just prepositions that started getting used in iffy ways and confused the Hell out of the rules of English.

The "not end a sentence with a preposition" rule has been the biggest monkey wrench in the rules of English I have ever seen. My brother and I are both former English teachers (Though I was mainly a math teacher.), and we have had hour long debates on what words are what parts of speech all over that type of situation. I don't want to go all the way into it since it would take up three thread pages, but our debates started over sentences in the general form of, "Where is Bill at?" That type of sentence is what started the whole mess of not ending sentences with prepositions because the word "at" is so unnecessary in the sentence it makes the person saying it sound unprofessional. As a result, we are now dealing with the biggest cluster#$%* the rules of English have ever known. In the sentence, "Where is Bill at?" some argue that the word "at" is a preposition with no object. However, it can also be argued that the word "where" is a prounoun in that particular sentence and functions as the object of "at". If somebody says, "Bill is at home," I can say, "Bill is at where?" In that sentence, which is just a rearrangement of, "Where is Bill at?" the word "where" is a prounoun, though some dictionaries will actually call it a noun. Then there is the argument that "where" is an adverb and cannot be a prounoun even though the verb in the sentence is a being verb, which is supposed to not be capable of being modified by adverbs. It gets even weirder because some people argue that "where" is an adjective in the sentence, "Bill is where?" which is a rearrangement of "Where is Bill?" On top of that, "where" in that sentence is what some dare to call various specific mixtures of parts of speech, like "adjective-prounoun" and "adjective-noun". Maybe there is a solid resolution, but it is the most confusing grammar issue I have ever come across. It is all over the fact that, "Where is Bill at?" sounds funny.

Lol. Who cares? You guys get annoyed easily.

Unless you're writing or grading an essay or research paper for a class, then don't stress over this stuff... I bet I just annoyed like 100 people with the word "stuff".