Letter to Editor Offers Laundry List of Grammar Goofs

It seems Sharon Nichol's book has stirred up comments in The Birmingham News about common grammar goofs. Barbara J. Belisle of Montevallo wrote this morning to state that she was beginning to think "poor grammar usage is an accepted practice."

Barbara mentioned the following common goofs:

1. YOU'RE and YOUR confusion

2. "If I would have" (should be: If I had) and "I wish I would have" (should be: I wish I had)

3. "between him and I" (should be: between him and me)

4. "people want they children" (should be "people want their children)

Apparently she has written a small book that offers advice on how to correct errors like these. It is called Where's U're?

YOU'RE COMMENT IS BROKEN??

I have been enjoying the latest series on problogger.com, which offers great tips to those of us who are trying to improve our blogs. Today, I have a tip for the ProBlogger about a sentence that appeared in his latest post:

Shane, you’re comment is broken.

This goes back to my post last Friday about YOU, YOUR, and YOU'RE. In this sentence, the writer is referring to a comment belonging to "you." He needs the adjective form YOUR, not the contraction YOU'RE, which can only be used in a spot where YOU + ARE would fit. His sentence should read as follows:

Shane, your comment is broken.

Grammar glitches aside, the ProBlogger site (not CITE or SIGHT) is a good one, and I suggest you check it out. There is a link to it on my site.

Please keep YOU, YOUR, and YOU'RE straight!

I've been busy this week preparing a workshop for a client company. One of the subjects I was asked to cover is PRONOUN CONFUSION, particularly as it relates to confusing YOU, YOUR, and YOU'RE.

Here is an example of the problem:

I am sorry I missed you call. Your right. The address in that document is incorrect.


Let's review for a minute:

YOU = subject or object pronoun:

YOU wrote the report.

I gave YOU the report.


YOUR = possessive or adjective pronoun that describes a noun:

YOUR report is on his desk.

I put YOUR memo in the file.


YOU'RE = a contraction of YOU and ARE

YOU'RE (YOU ARE) not fooling me for one minute.

I think YOU'RE (YOU ARE) about to be promoted.


The incorrect example sentences above should read as follows:

I am sorry I missed your call. You're right. The address in that document is incorrect.


I hope I have increased YOUR understanding of this pronoun usage. If YOU still have a question, YOU'RE welcome to pose a question in the comment section.

You're About to Be Reminded About Your "Your/You're" Grammar

I love to read the daily posts of the ProBlogger because they are full of good suggestions for improving my own blog and linking it in creative ways to the wider world.

Occasionally, however, I find a grammar glitch in the good advice. Sunday's blog is a good example of how NOT to confuse two words that sound exactly alike:

The key to getting picked up is to write content that adds to the conversation on partner sites. Your articles need to be highly relevant and add value to the article your linking to.

The first "your" is correct--the possessive form that shows the articles belong to "you." The second "your" is supposed to be a contraction of "you" and "are" and, therefore, should be written you're.

The sentence should read as follows:

The key to getting picked up is to write content that adds to the conversation on partner sites. Your articles need to be highly relevant and add value to the article you're linking to.

If you're wondering whether or not the contraction is okay, the answer is yes. Website copy is considered more casual and conversational than formal business prose.

if you're wondering about the final sentence that ends in a preposition, you can lighten up on that one a little, too. Contemporary English allows a preposition at the end of the sentence--at least when it makes the sentence less awkward (Is this the person with whom I saw you last evening?), but avoid redundant and unnecessary ending prepositions that create SLANG expressions like "Where are you going TO?" and "Where will you be AT?" The two SLANG examples would be just as clear without the end prepositions, so leave them off.

By the way, if you want some good advice about managing and promoting your own website, be sure to check out http://www.problogger.net/.