YOUR or YOU’RE?  What’s the difference?

A common error in English is confusing YOUR and YOU’RE.

DEFINITION for YOUR

YOUR is a possessive adjective. Follow YOUR with a noun (a person, a place, or a thing).

The noun belongs to you.

As you can see from the examples below, it sounds odd to say that a person, or a place, or even some things belong to a person, but it can be helpful to think of belonging for the purposes of getting the spelling right!

Examples

1. You should put on your sweater. (i.e., The sweater belongs to you.)

2. Your country is beautiful.  (i.e.,  The country belongs to you. The country is the one you call home.)

3. Aren’t you going to eat your salad? (i.e., The salad belongs to you.The salad is the one in front of you. )

4. Your boyfriend seems like a really nice guy. (i.e., That guy belongs to you. You have a relationship with him.)

DEFINITION for YOU’RE

YOU’RE is a contraction.  It always means YOU ARE.

Examples

1. You’re going to be cold. (i.e., You are going to be cold.)

2. I think you’re going to like this.   (i.e., I think you are going to like this.)

3. You’re late. You’re angry. (i.e., You are late. You are angry.)

4. You’re not going to eat this salad?  (i.e., You are not going to eat this salad?)

5. I just found out that you’re dating my friend’s cousin! (i.e., … you are dating)

Lesson on POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

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