“YOUR WRONG. Apple’s are nicer too eat than banana’s.”
Does seeing a sentence like that send a shiver down your spine? It’s grammar, calling to you from beyond the grave.
We’ve given you a few tips on how to spell notoriously tricky everyday words, now it’s time for a grammar lesson. Some of these rules may seem extremely basic, but are secretly out to ruin our lives and embarrass us on the internet.
Eyes front, everyone.
1) There/Their/They’re
UGH. Who, when thinking up words for the English language, decided to make three that sound the same but have entirely different meanings? It’s like they want us to fail.
Let’s clear it up, once and for all.
- “There” means “in or at a place/point”.
- “Their” is possessive.
- “They’re” is a contraction of “they are”.
2) Its/It’s
When do I use the apostrophe? When do I leave it out? Can I give up speaking English and communicate in grunts instead?
No need to jump to extremes.
- “Its” is possessive.
- “It’s” is a contraction of “it is”.
3) Your/You’re
This one is probably one of the nastier rules, because “your” flouts the “apostrophe = possessive” rule, which we’ll go into more detail about later.
This is as simple as we can make it.
- “Your” is possessive.
- “You’re” is a contraction of “you are”.
4) Two/To/Too
Another case of three words with entirely different meanings, sounding exactly the same.
It’s easy to pick out the number two from the line up, but the others need to come forward and explain themselves.
- “Two” is a number.
- “To” denotes an action.
- “Too” means “also”.
5) Apostrophes
There is a reason this t-shirt strikes fear in the heart of any pedant:
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Right. Here’s where things get a little tricky. Though the apostrophe-less “its”, “whose” and “your” are possessive, with pretty much everything else an apostrophe is needed to show ownership.
The boy’s dog. The girl’s guitar. Sarah’s pencil.
The boys are going out. Girls just wanna have fun.
So the above t-shirt is wrong because, as the original tweeter says, kiss the boy’s what? Arms? Legs?
It should read: “Kiss the boys and make them smile.” Penneys, up your game.
6) Who’s/Whose
Ah, who’s/whose, our old nemesis. Let us spell this one out for you right here.
- “Who’s” is a contraction of “who is” or “who has”.
- “Whose” is possessive.
7) Could have/Would have/Should have
Seeing “could of” written down is one of the more shiver-inducing grammar mistakes around. Why is this happening? What does it mean?
What they’re trying to say is “could’ve” which is a contraction of “could have”.
This is never interchangeable with “could of” which doesn’t mean anything, ever.
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