Insights

Whether you’re chatting online with a colleague, writing an email to a client, or crafting copy for a corporate communication, it’s ok to make a grammar mistake from time to time, but making the same one over and over again can cost you in terms of credibility.

One all-too-common grammar mistake is when people misuse “your/you’re”, “its/it’s”, and “their/they’re”. It’s an easy mistake to make, but not to worry, it can just as easily be avoided using this simple trick.

Let’s start with “your/you’re”. Ready? Here we go.

“You’re” is a contraction of the phrase “you are”. So, when you don’t know which “your/you’re” to choose, just replace it with “you are”. If it reads right, use the apostrophe. If it doesn’t, don’t.

Here’s an example:

It’s <your/you’re> job.

Which one should you choose? Use “you are” and see what happens. “It’s you are job” sounds wrong. So go with “your”. Done.

Here’s another:

<Your/You’re> the best.

“You are the best” sounds right, so go with “you’re”.

The same works for “its/it’s”, where you would replace it with “it is”. And for “their/they’re”, just replace it with “they are”.

That’s it. That’s the trick. You will never make that mistake again. Ever.