There are actual rules that you're supposed to follow....

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Maybe it's because I've caught up with the chores for the day and am a little bored.  Maybe I just felt like getting on my soapbox and ranting for a minute, but a there are a few little things that I'd like to point out.

Your / You're  :  http://www.youryoure.com/

learn the rule: your / you're
•your is a possessive adjective, indicating ownership of something
◦That is your sock.
◦Where is your potato?
•you're is a contraction (combination) of you and are
◦Do you know what you're doing?
◦You're stupid.
•The two are not interchangeable.
•Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly.

its / it's  :  http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000227.htm

Its or It's?

Its is the possessive pronoun; it modifies a noun.


It's is a contraction of it is or it has.


Incorrect: The mother cat carried it's kitten in it's mouth.
(Possessive pronoun, no apostrophe)

Correct: The mother cat carried its kitten in its mouth.

Correct: I think it's going to rain today.
(Contraction of it is)

Correct: It's been a very long time.
(Contraction of it has)

their / they're  :  http://webschool.wash.k12.ut.us/language/lessons/there.html

They're is a contraction for they are.

There shows direction.

Their shows ownership.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fill in the blanks with they're, there, or their.

1. Do you know how to get home from  _______?

2. Did you see any of  _______ relatives at the reunion?

3. I wonder when  ______ going to start the concert.

4. I think  ______ flower garden is the prettiest one I've ever seen.

5. I wanted to see the new mall, so we walked over  ______ after school.

6.  ______ supposed to be in school each day.

7. I thought I set my homework down over ______, but now I can't find it.

8. Mrs. Lee said to be sure to be  ______ by 8:30 or we might miss the bus.

9. The kittens stay near  ______ mother.

10.  ______ is my calculator. I've been looking for it everywhere.

Lose / Loose  :  http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/looselose.html

The words loose and lose are mixed up in writing; for some reason, many people write loose when they really mean lose. But there's no reason to lose your mind worrying about this, just lose the extra o!
 

Loose

Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained.

My shoes are loose

I have a loose tooth

There's a dog running loose in the street

 
Lose

Lose is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss.

I win! You lose!

Don't lose your keys

I never lose bets

 
The Bottom Line

Simple carelessness leads people to write loose when they mean lose. Just remember that lose has one o, and loose has two. Start with loose, lose an o, and what do you get? Lose!

OK.  I'm done.

[Garden guy]

Are you an english teacher?

[Dog Walker]

Bravo!  Precision in English!  Typos are forgivable, but misuse is not.

[blfair]

Your doing a good thing posting this, a lot of people know these things but its obvious they loose they're english skills as time passes.

[Garden guy]

It's pure cyber lazyness...nothing else.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Are you an english teacher?

nah.  I'm that DB friend that spells out every word and uses punctuation in my texts.  Yeah, it takes you a few more seconds to read it, but there's no having decipher an alphabet soup of LOLs, SYLs, BRBs and BHS.  I'm also that DB poster that has to really restrain myself from posting when I see such glaring errors, especially when one is trying to make some genious post about politics, finances or running a business and doesn't seem to know some basic rules of grammar or is just too lazy to fix it.

There's another one - to / too  :  http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/to.html

People seldom mix “two” up with the other two; it obviously belongs with words that also begin with TW, like “twice” and “twenty” that involve the number 2. But the other two are confused all the time. Just remember that the only meanings of “too” are “also” (“I want some ice cream too.”) and “in excess” (“Your iPod is playing too loudly.”). Note that extra O. It should remind you that this word has to do with adding more on to something. “To” is the proper spelling for all the other uses

[Jumpinjack]

Your doing a good thing posting this, a lot of people know these things but its obvious they loose they're english skills as time passes.

and thats the truth as I no it

[buckethead]

All well and good, but its a mute point.

[Dog Walker]

Stop!  Stop!

[ronchamblin]

Thanks Non-Redneck,

    The one that helped me was the its and it's.  I had been using "it's" when saying "hitting its leg" etc.  I owe you, because now my word use's perfect. 

[Dog Walker]

Ok,  now is it womens' or women's?  Possessive apostrophe for plurals after the "s" or before?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I'll try this before hitting up google:

Womens' : Woman's - both possesive, but one is singular and the other is plural.