You’re vs. Your vs. Yore (Grammar Rules)
Learn when to use you’re, your, and yore with Grammar Rules from the Writer’s Digest editors, including a few examples of correct usages.
This week, we're going to look at when to use you're, your, and/or yore. One is a contraction, another is a possessive adjective, and the other refers to a time long past. These homophones are frequently mixed up in writing, but they're easy to understand if we take a moment to look at them.
So let's look at the differences between you're, your, and yore.
You're vs. Your vs. Yore
Very simply, you're is a contraction of the words "you" and "are."
Your, on the other hand, is an adjective that describes something that belongs to "you," whoever "you" happens to be. So if I owned a baseball, it would be my baseball. But if you owned a baseball, it would be your baseball.
Finally, yore is noun that refers to time past, and usually from the distant past.
Make sense?
Here are a few examples:
Correct: You're the best writer I know.
Incorrect: Your the best writer I know.
Incorrect: Yore the best writer I know.
Correct: Are you going to bring your book?
Incorrect: Are you going to bring you're book?
Incorrect: Are you going to bring yore book?
Correct: Her poetry reminds me of the writers of yore.
Incorrect: Her poetry reminds me of the writers of you're.
Incorrect: Her poetry reminds me of the writers of your.
When it comes to keeping these straight, the apostrophe in you're is an easy reminder that it's two words (or you are). Meanwhile, the you in your means an item belongs to you. And that leaves yore, which refers to time past.
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No matter what type of writing you do, mastering the fundamentals of grammar and mechanics is an important first step to having a successful writing career.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
