ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: you're or your

khoff — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:01:17 GMT

Yes, you are correct.

Re: you're or your

farmer ky — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:35:47 GMT

No they don't make sense. You can say it and it sounds right and we understand but not in writing! people know it's wrong if it is in writing because they recognize the words and not the sounds.

ex:
than is for comparison.
Then is to indicate the time.
too is like also.
to is like to do something..
it's is it is or it has.
its is belonging to something...

am i right?

Re: you're or your

Grammarwannabe — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:23:32 GMT

GrammarGeek, for you that is true, I am sure.

Unfortunately, I work in a school where I get handwritten papers from adult native speakers with the same mistakes. Sometimes when I underline it, I am still questioned.

I think Ray is right; there are too many cases where they don't know the right answer

Re: you're or your

Kooyeen — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:29:43 GMT

RayH
How about people who don't know the difference between then and than?
Or there, their, and they're?
Or too and to?
Or its and it's?

Despite being wrong, they all make sense, since they are pronounced the same, except "then" vs "than". I've never understood that very well, but I recently noticed that "then" and "than" can actually be pronounced the same when the vowel in "than" is not completely reduced to a schwa. So it seems to me that in fast or normal speech you have "Better thun me", and in slower speech you have "Better then me". Maybe I'm mistaken though... Reduction and raising of /æ/ to /ɛ/ in reducible syllables is something I just started to notice. I'll post in the pronunciation section too.

Re: you're or your

Grammar Geek — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:35:02 GMT

As a native speaker who types around 70 words per minute, I can tell you that when I type, I "think the words" in my head and it comes out my fingers. I will very often type "whose" when I mean "who's" and "your" when I mean "you're" and other similar sound-alike errors because my hands can't go as fast as my brain but they are trying madly to transcribe what I"m thinking. I think I've even typed "here" for "hear" for the same reason.

I almost never make these errors when writing longhand, I guess because it's a different process - my brain MUST slow down to not get ahead of my slow-moving pen.

I'll take "your" as a mis-typing of "you're" over "ur" ANY day!

Re: you're or your

khoff — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:59:53 GMT

farmer ky

When I say "white" people I mean the english or those who speak english as a native language. But I guess they could be anything complex right? I guess not all native speakers are always right...

Certainly not all native speakers of English are white. (Barack Obama, for instance!) And not all native speakers of English are always right.

Re: you're or your

RayH — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:57:34 GMT

Don't get me started... too late.

How about people who don't know the difference between then and than?
Or there, their, and they're?
Or too and to?
Or its and it's?

Granted, sometimes their just making a mistake but than again they're are way to many four them all too be typos. I'm telling you, its more then I can take sometimes.

Re: you're or your

farmer ky — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:56:31 GMT

sounding the same doesn't mean it's acceptable, right? speaking is ok but gramatically "you're" is the right way. for english as a second language like me i want to learn the right way to have a strong foundation.

When I say "white" people I mean the english or those who speak english as a native language. But I guess they could be anything complex right? I guess not all native speakers are always right...

Re: you're or your

Kooyeen — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:39:14 GMT

The correct form is obviously "you're". You're beautiful! However, "Your beautiful!" sounds the same as the contraction "you're", and it's so common on the net that sometimes I even think it actually looks better, LOL. I'm afraid the majority of "you're" on Youtube comments are spelled "your"... it must be because it's faster to type. On the other hand, I've seen people with an average of above average education who seem to use "your" pretty frequently anyway. Either common typos or many people think "your" is an informal spelling for "you're".
And Black people have nothing to do with "your". But I guess they can say "You beautiful, shorty!" (no verb to-be in African American English)

Re: you're or your

New2grammar — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:27:29 GMT

My guess is it's a direct translation from some languages for westerners.

Re: you're or your

Grammar Geek — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:23:22 GMT

But I'm very curious - what does "white people" have to do with it?

Re: you're or your

New2grammar — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:19:35 GMT

You're right

you're or your

farmer ky — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:15:58 GMT

I have seen some " white" people write this:

Your beautiful!

Youre beautiful!

Shouldn't it be :

You're beautiful!