Grammar Mishaps: It's vs. Its and Your vs. You're

A great book emphasising the proper usage of punctuation!

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

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The proper usage of apostrophes in contractions

In the 16th century the apostrophe was used solely as a means to omit letters. Apostrophe in Greek means "to turn away". In the 17th century it took on new meanings. (See my hub on the other common misuse of the apostrophe: possessives.)

It's versus Its

A common mistake among many writers is the "it's" versus "its" usage. This is a very easy grammar distinction. "It's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has". If you are confused on whether you should use "it's" or "its", just replace "it is" or "it has" in your sentence. If your sentence makes sense, then you need to use the contraction form, "it's". If it does not make sense then you use the non-contraction form, "its".

Example of "Its"

The dog wagged its tail.

(The dog wagged it is tail doesn't make sense.)

The child ate its food.

(The child ate it is food doesn't make sense.)

Examples of "It's"

It's time to go to school.

(It is time to go to school.)

It's been a long time since we have seen each other.

(It has been a long time since we have seen each other.

Your vs You're

This is another common mistake of apostrophe use. "You're" is a contraction for "you are". It is easy enough to decipher, again just insert "you are" into your sentence instead of "you're" or "your" and you will know the correct usage.

Examples of "Your"

It is time for your medicine.

(It is time for you are medicine doesn't make sense.)

We will go to your play after we eat.

(We will go to you are play does not make sense.)

Examples of "You're"

You're going to be the first in line.

(You are going to be the first in line.)

You're my best friend.

(You are my best friend.)

Homonyms: There, Their and They're

There, Their and They're
"There", "their" and "they're" are homonyms. I've created another hub to clarify their meanings.

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Grammar: Grammar Mishaps: I vs. Me

Grammar: The Apostrophe: Possessives

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StuartJ 5 years ago

Hi, you have done it too! (Should I have a comma before the 'too' in that first sentence, or is it ok with short sentences like that?)

I like the idea of the smallish linked Hubs. I must look at dividing mine up a bit more.

Robin Hub Author 5 years ago

Thanks for the comment StuartJ. You were the one that inspired me on the grammar hubs. I have a few more I'm going to write. I don't think you need a comma before the "too" unless you want to have added emphasis. I agree, small hubs are easier to read and a better bet all around. Cheers!

livelonger Level 6 Commenter 5 years ago

A rarer mistake, but I still see it fairly often, is confusing 've with of, because they sound the same. "I could of been a contender".

Robin Hub Author 5 years ago

I think that the statement should be, "I could've (could have) been a contender." The words "could of", "should of" and "would of" are not correct. Instead we should say, "could have" or "could've", "should have" or "should've", and "would have" or "would've". The use of the words "of" instead of "have" or the contraction "'ve" are often misused. Thanks for the comment!

Nirosha_7teen 5 years ago

Hi Robin!!!!

Just wanted to tell you that your hubpage is awesome.I've read some of the articles you've written here.I love the way you respond to people's comments.Keep it up!

Something about me;

My name is Nirosha and I am seventeen years old. I am an Indian.(Should it be 'I am Indian' or is this ok?I guess it's correct either way.In the former sentence, 'indian' was used as a noun while in the latter, as an adjective.What do you say?)

I love English(especially American English).

I like spotting grammatical errors.;)I'm sure u do too;)

Thanks!

Robin Hub Author 5 years ago

Hi Nirosha. I love to hear from teens that are aware of grammar! You are correct in your assessment of your sentences. They are both correct. You'd probably like the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." It's a hilarious book about grammar and grammatical errors. I have added it to the top of this hub. Have you written any hubs yet? If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks for the comment!

Nirosha_7teen 5 years ago

Nope.I have never written a hub.In fact,I just got introduced to this hub thing.Your hubpage was the first I'd ever visited.Would probably make one in future(they say 'in the future' in American English,don't they?).

Robin,could you please tell me where the error lies in the following sentence?

Like the area in and around the Rocky Mountains, the Western Basins and Plateaus region of the United States offer much for the tourist.

I sure would love to read that book!But, at present I am busy preparing for the SAT.

One more thing...I've heard many Americans ask,"Where are you at?" I don't know why, but it sounds strange to me.Isn't 'at' redundant?

Thanks!

Robin 5 years ago

Hi Nirosha. I see two main mistakes in your above sentence. First, I believe the statement should be the Western Basin and Plateau regions. Second, you need to specify what is being offered to the tourists. I would rewrite the sentence, "Like the area in and around the Rocky Mountains, the Western Basin and Plateau regions of the United States offer plenty of adventure for tourists."

As for your second question, you are correct that the statement, "Where are you at?" is incorrect. "At" is a preposition and should never be used at the end of a sentence. Prepositions link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other parts of the sentence. Other examples of prepositions include: on, besides, beneath, around, into, from, during, plus many more. The question should be simply, "Where are you?". Thanks for the questions and comments! I'll be looking for your first hub. You could write it on the SAT when you're finished studying. The best of luck to you!

smoovstella 5 years ago

WOW! What wonderful hubs you have here! I am a former teacher myself. I now homeschool my teenage boys at home and love ever minute of it. I am no English teacher by all means lol (my subjects are Math and Science) but I enjoy your contribution here and find it helpful :) Nice job! I must bookmark you for reference :) Thanks!

Robin Hub Author 5 years ago

Thanks smoovstella! I read your hubs on horses and homeschooling. I think you could be a great resources for horse lovers and homeschoolers! Thanks for the comment! Robin

lauren 5 years ago

Thanks for the "it's" clarification! Very helpful! You missed a "t" in contraction in the last sentence. Spelling/grammer is a learning process and I know this very well! Thanks for the help! Hopefully I didn't spell anything wrong...

Robin Hub Author 5 years ago

Thanks Lauren. I appreciate the catch! Cheers!

Kassandra 5 years ago

Hello! I have a friend who likes to correct my grammer. Is it correct to say, "He has not ate anything yet today." ? I would appreciate the answer! Thanks!

Robin 5 years ago

Hi Kassandra,The correct way to say your sentence is, "He has not eaten anything yet today." Eat, Ate, Eaten: I will eat today. I ate yesterday. I have eaten a lot today. Use the term "eaten" when the word "have" precedes it. Thanks for the question!

Maria 4 years ago

Hi Robin, thank you very much for this site it helped me alot in teaching my son who is in 2nd Gr right now,he has a little bit of confusion using THERE, THEY'RE and THEIR. I hope you will post more about GRAMMAR coz i'm learning also and I use your site as my reference because it is easy to understand, we're from another country and not used to speak your language (ENGLISH). Post more.Thank you.

Yizzer 4 years ago

My friend consistently uses the word "done" incorrectly. She says "I am done my homework." Or "When you're done dinner..." We have arguments often about whether or not this is proper English. Can you help explain? Thank you.

Robin Hub Author 4 years ago

Hi Yizzer,

You can say, "I have done my homework; I did my homework; or I am done with my homework." It is incorrect to say, "I am done my homework." The same applies with your second sentence. This is the correct usage, "When you're done with dinner...." Hope that helps! ;)

tyroneslothrop 4 years ago

Is this really grammar? Or is it, rather, spelling conventions? Do we really want to confuse grammar with spelling conventions? A contraction is a phonological process (based on phonological rules). Personally, as a linguist, I cannot hear the difference between /Its/ and /Its/. Though one linguist friend claims that the possessive does not follow the devoicing rule of plurals in English. Thus /dawgs/ dog's and /dawgz/ dogs and /kats/ cat’s /kats/ cats—where the plural morpheme is /z/ and is devoiced through assimilation with the preceding voiceless consonant (though something different happens if it is a sibilant). A rule of English grammar (as that abstract system of language) would then be /z/ --> [s]/ [+voiceless, + consonantal, - sibilant] ____#. When we claim that spelling conventions are rules of grammar, are we not merely perpetuating a false conflation of language and writing?

Praveen 4 years ago

Hi Robin,

Fantastic site! I cleared many of my grammer issues. Thanks much!

Praveen

William 4 years ago

Should one say "I appreciate your coming with me to the store with me" or "I appreciate you coming to the store with me". I think it should be "your", but can't remember!

William 4 years ago

Oops! I meant to say, "I appreciate your coming to the store with me" or "I appreciate you coming to the store with me". Which is correct?

sweetgem83 4 years ago

William i believe it's "I appreciate you coming to the store with me."

Education Articles 4 years ago

Don't you just love the English language? It really is a difficult language to grasp properly isn'it it? Your great little hub page has certainly helped me. - Many thanks, Paul

relache 3 years ago

The site owner of Bellaonline.com is always pointing out these usages to new editors. It's one of those things that never seems to go away.

Shauna 3 years ago

I know this is late, but I had to comment. I appreciate your/you coming to the store - which is correct? Actually, it is "your". When using two verbs in English, the second verb may be either an infinitve (to eat) or a gerund (eating) - most of the time. After the verb "appreciate", we should use a gerund. If we want to qualify who is doing the eating, we must use the possessive. Therefore, your is the correct answer. Using you is an informal change that has recently come about because Americans are trying to simplify grammar. However, as English is a "descriptive" language, meaning that there is no formal body that dictates what is correct and incorrect, Americans are making up the rules as they go along. Therefore, the answer is that "your" is correct to the old grammar leaders, but that they don't have any real power. It is actually more of a question of what is prescribed vs. what is real. Eventually, it will prbably change to you, just as gotten is changing to got.

Christopher 3 years ago

Thanks Robin, it is clearer at this point. Grammar mishaps was a help.

Rosie 3 years ago

Hi Robin,

So for the past tense "I did" and "I have done", does this distinction exist only in English or in other languages also?

Thanks

Conner 3 years ago

So i understand the difference between "its" and "it's" but when do you use its'?

(Ive never done this before)

alison 3 years ago

is it correct to use? I have done my work. Have you done your work? or should it be I have did my homework

MargD 3 years ago

Alison -- always have done, or did; never have did. Hope this helps.

Rosie -- other Romance (Latin-based) languages use this form of verb construction: Spanish would say "ha ido" for "has gone."

Joseph 3 years ago

Someone corrected me when I said, " John has eaten a rattlesnake ". They told me it was ate instead of eaten. Is that right?

alan 20 months ago

Thanks for a very insightful hub.

I actually comnsider myself to be very good with grammer, and emglish is a real passion of mine.

The its v it's conundrum was strange in that, having never had a problem with it, i suddenly developed a mental block in which i found myself doubting my usage! Does anyone else ever experience that?

However, onto my question...

I'm from the UK so always use English English as opposed to American English and as such, often find myself arguing for and against the correct usage or pronunciation of certain words and phrase.

Some of the words pronounced in US English grate on me, and i'm sure the same applies in reverse (i particularly hate the US pronunciation of words such as "route", but find myself defending it due to the spelling ie. "out").

Could someone please clarify the US use of the word "math" as opposed to the UK version "maths".

I always think "math" sounds strange as i would generally consider the full word "mathematics" to be plural eg. applied mathematics.

I've never heard anyone refer to the full version as "mathematic" (certainly not on my side of the pond).

Could the US version derive from the word "mathematical"?

guru 17 months ago

is it it's ok

or its ok?

Shar 17 months ago

Alan- you spelled grammar wrong (=

~Kimberly Kay~ 16 months ago

I am writing notes for my fellow students in my ABE (Adult Basic Education), class. What I do is go to class take notes, come home and type them out and format them for my classmates. I am pleased to find this article because it's going to be very useful for my notes, and to reference for my fellow students to check out your hub for further help and explanations. Thank you for writing this! I love Hubpages!

Dude 14 months ago

I really enjoyed you are article thank you. My daughter will really benefit by using this neat trick in it has school ;)

Confused 9 months ago

Which is the correct way to phrase the following: "Here is a picture of Allan and I at the zoo" or "Here is a picture of me and Allan at the zoo"?

Robin Hub Author 8 months ago

Hello Confused,

The correct sentence structure is: Here is a picture of me and Allan at the zoo. If you'd like more clarification, check out my Hub regarding this grammar issue: http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__I_versus_

Thanks!

Robin

Getwood 5 months ago

Posted to Facebook: You know you from Louisa when...you consider "You know you from Louisa when" is proper grammar. (or, as proper grammar?)

goody 5 months ago

hi! I'm writing this because I really confused about the words there and their?

Ed 4 months ago

"It's" Why does it not follow the example of "John's" or "Susan's" as in a posessive sense? The dog ate it's ball.

Garham 4 months ago

Thanks for the help!

JOE 3 months ago

A friend told me that you can say/write "YOU IS" ... e.g. "you is angry" instead "you are angry"

is this right?

Mike 3 months ago

Hi,

My wife and I have difficulty determining if "I'd" (or "We'd") is short for "I had" or "I would" (or "We had" or "We would"). Thanks.

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