Do you feel like a yutz when you have to decide between using your or you’re?
You’re not alone.
There’s a good reason why we struggle with when to use you’re. This word violates all our expectations.
Normally an apostrophe is used to show that someone possesses something, as in “Sue’s yo-yo.”
But if you want to write “your yo-yo,” you need to use the word your without an apostrophe.
You’re with an apostrophe is only used when “you are” is being contracted into one word.
The same rule applies to their / they’re and its / it’s. If you’d like more on these words, you may want to check out my grammar story Night of the Apostrophe Ninja.
To demonstrate this apostrophe rule, here’s a very short story.
Your vs. You’re – Who Will Win the Lady’s Heart?
In days of yore, two knights stood before the Queen, yammering about their quest to slay the yellow yeti.
“Your Majesty,” said the older knight, “I regret to report that we were unable to fulfill your desire. The beast is still alive.”
“What beast?” asked the Queen, bewildered.
“We?” protested the younger knight. “You’re the one who decided it was a good idea to wake the yeti up by challenging it, instead of sneaking up and chopping off its head.”
The Queen flinched. Then her cheeks blossomed in anger. “How dare you-”
“Look how you have offended Her Majesty by your violation of the Knight’s Code of Conduct!” remonstrated the older knight. “You have constantly demonstrated your ignorance of our traditions.” He turned to the Queen, who was clearly in a rage. “Your Majesty, I protest. Your young ‘champion’ is hotheaded and will not listen to reason.”
“Listen to reason? You’re the one who never listens! You’re too busy living in the past, and now we’re stuck with that yeti.”
“You’re the ones who are not listening,” yelled the Queen. “How dare you interrupt me!”
The two knights were immediately silent.
“We gave no command to attack the yellow yeti. Clearly you have been blinded by your pride. We hereby strip you of your titles until you’re willing to act like the knights you should be.”
The former knights slunk away, shamefaced.
After they had left the chamber, the Queen’s form shimmered, and in her place was a yellow yeti.
“Well, that was close,” said the yeti. “Good thing my knights are a bunch of incompetent yahoos, or I would never have heard the end of it from my sisters.”
***
I can’t believe I’m coming up to the last A to Z post! Stay tuned for the final episode tomorrow, where I will zap the zombified letter Z…
© Sue Archer and Doorway Between Worlds, 2015
Doorway Between Worlds 
I almost always notice that I’ve messed up the you’re/your situation, right after I’ve posted it.
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Yes, it’s always right after it’s gone out. The most memorable one for me was on a large billboard. That must have been so embarrassing for whoever wrote it!
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These are probably the most common slip-ups I see online. And in my husband’s emails. 😉
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Ha! And you’re still together? 😉
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Haha, oddly enough.
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those contractions…you are or you’re….in French school, for our 2nd language classes, they teach us to use verbs with contractions i..then, I go to English Cegep, and they say never used them again…so I always tried to be careful with my usage of the verb or the possessive pronoun.
Do you realize that tomorrow is the last day of your daily post…I am now so addicted to them….how will I live without them? – lol
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Oh dear, that is a problem! I guess I’ll have to write more posts as soon as possible. 🙂
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Nope, I’m pretty good at figuring out when to use your or you’re. As a kid, though, I got it confused all the time.
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Glad to hear it’s not an issue for you!
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Strangely enough, I never mess up these two, maybe because, having learned it as a second language, I’ve lerened them as two very different things. And in my own languge, there’s no way to mess them up, they are indeed different 🙂
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That’s great that they are two completely different words in your language. So much easier!
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Funny story!
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Thanks, Sonia!
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This is one of those typos that always sneaks in because it’s not misspelled.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
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True – spellcheck can’t help us with this one!
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Hi Sue, a good post as this is an easy word to mix up, I get its and it’s wrong quite often. Dropping in from the A to Z I have give your blog a shout out from my letter Z today.
@rosieamber1
Rosie Amber – Book reviewer. Campaigning to link more readers to writers.
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Thanks so much for the shout out, Rosie! I’m glad you liked the post.
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Hehe, that was fun! And a nice nod to Gulliver’s travels at the end! 😉
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Thanks! Originally I didn’t have much of an ending, so I’m happy it worked. 🙂
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Ha, ha, great story! I have to double-check myself with those two, because I don’t always write them correctly the first time.
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Thanks, Lori! Yes, they’re tough ones to catch on the first go round.
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Haha! Of all the grammar grumbles, this is the only one I get right! I never got them wrong for some reason, until recent years…. When I type by thumb with the phone I get these all wrong ‘under my thumb’ and my autocorrect doesn’t know grammar. Story was a hoot, as always..
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Oh, typing on phones! I am constantly making mistakes there. And I even have a phone with a larger keypad. I don’t know how people manage with those teeny tiny phones. 🙂
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Can you please teach Autocorrect to stop changing all of my possessives into apostrophes? It does it with your, but also his and her, for some reason…. 👀
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Some day they will come up with an autocorrect that actually corrects things. That thing irritates me so much I just turn it off! Where on earth does it put an apostrophe in his and her? His’s and her’s? Yikes!
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No, it just changes them to he’s and she’s…. for some… reason… >.<
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Oh, wow. That’s annoying!
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