Simple Grammar Errors: Your-You’re, Lose-Loose, Its-It’s

Guest Post by Cias Hart

With the advent of blogging and social media, we have found ourselves in a very different world these days as far as how we communicate.

Whereas for a long time we thought the written word was losing its touch, many people converse mainly through writing through text messaging, email, and social media (Web 2.0 included).

 

As people are reintroduced to this form of communication, however, they are beginning to make mistakes which are rooted in a lack of simple foundations and experience in writing.

Here a few of the most common mistakes.

YOUR AND YOU’RE

Your is a simple way to show that you, a person, possess something. For example, your backpack, your cup, your failure to succeed in life.

This is in stark contrast to the word “you’re.” This word is an abbreviation of the phrase “You are,” meaning that you, a person, are defined in a certain way.

This can be extended to an action, which is still a definition. For example, you’re a good person, you’re going to the store, or you’re known to make poor life decisions.

All of these are different from “your” in that they are in some way defining the second person, not something they possess.

LOSE AND LOOSE

These are two commonly mixed up words that have caused several conflicts in small countries and nearly toppled at least one major religious institution.

To lose something is to misplace it, in other words to fail to possess it at this time. It can also refer to “losing,” as in the opposite of winning.

You lose a book, you lose a soccer match, and you lose your dignity. In contrast, to loose is the opposite of to tighten. Furthermore, you do not “loose” something, you “loosen” it.

You loosen a bolt, not loose it, you loosen your morals, not loose them, and you loosen up, not loose up.

When someone writes that they hate it when they “loose” something, they are wrong in two ways and in some states have committed a felony.

ITS AND IT’S

Another controversial topic, Its and It’s.

Let’s start with “its.” This refers to an object’s possession. When referring to the Church, you might write that its controversial history has caused it problems in recent years. If referring to a computer, you might write that its power supply failed and had to be replaced.

There is no apostrophe needed in this case, which is simply a grammatical rule that should be followed and not be questioned (see my article on “Why you don’t button the bottom button on a suit” for more on this).

“It’s,” by comparison, is a contraction of “it is.” This means that an object is being defined, similar to “You’re.” For example, it’s a dog, it’s a medieval torture machine, it’s alright. The difference is in an object being defined, or an object’s possession.

While these simple grammatical rules may seem arcane and overbearing to some, they are in reality necessary for a proper grasp of the American-English language.

 

Adherence to simple rules like this should be followed by all writers, lest we degenerate into a Chaucer-esque grammatical pattern in which we make things up as we go along and before long we’re all speaking a coarse vernacular again.

If you or your child struggles with your grammar, consider hiring a tutor. Especially for children, a kids’ tutor can make all the difference in a child’s writing.

Starting young will have positive consequences for their future; after all, you wouldn’t want them to lose the opportunity to attend a good school because of a misplaced “o” or apostrophe.

Cias Hart is a veteran and resident of Arizona. He is fluent in English, Bad English, and Spanish. He is also versed in Albanian, Greek, Cantonese, French, and is seriously considering learning Esperanto for fun. If you are trying to learn Spanish or another language, check out The Best Way to Learn Spanish to get started on a few programs which may help your studies. Good luck!