Why Do So Many Native English Speakers Write "your" When They Mean "you're"?

[Statebriga]

Do they really not know the difference or what? And how can so many people have problems with it?

[jim360]

Of course as kval may delight in pointng out I wasn't always so enlightened... the thing is that it is particularly easy to make mistakes, especially in the written word, even if you would recognise them as such. There are one or two in the previous post for example. In criticising online writing I'd be hesitant about correcting anyone else's mistakes because there is a good chance that it's the same sort of mistake, ie one that is down to rushing or to not quite so perfect typing.

Some people don't recognise such mistakes of course and genuinely think that "you're" and "your" are interchangeable. But even then it's likely to be down to bad education or a lack of opportunities to learn these things. And finally those who are not victims of poor education but just don't care about such things aren't going to take kindly to being corrected anyway.

[kvalidir]

I think there is a well established correlation between lack of education and crime EDDIE, so that's not so surprising really.

[kvalidir]

As if I'd rub it in Jim :) We all make mistakes even those of us who know we've made them, so I've never been bothered to point them out unless I'm making a point to a grammar Nazi:)

[Sqad]

A good post by Jim.

There is of course the other side of the coin in which some ABers use "unusual" words in an effort to show " how clever they are" and this of course defeats the object of language..........that of communicating.

[Retrochic]

You may teach Grammar at school , but the younger generation will communicate however they want to, and the fact is that 'Text Speak' or whatever its now called will prevail and the spoken language will evolve first, followed by the written language. The older generation like to correct or sometimes make fun of how the language is evolving, but evolve it will and some of the contemporary novels we now enjoy will, in the future, become difficult to understand, like Shakespeare is difficult for people to understand for some people now.

[Old_Geezer]

Well, one persons' "unusual" word is another's normal vocabulary. I recall being told by my mother that an Aunt and Uncle were making faces/comments or some such thing about some of the things I said as a lad whilst staying at my Nan's. I'd been totally unaware as I didn't think I'd said anything unusual.

[TWR]

There are people getting murdered, children getting raped, houses getting robbed, Richard Branson worth Trillions, he's dyslexic, there is more to life than that to worry about State.

[mikey4444]

Its a common mistake that sometimes I make, and I consider myself to have a good education. I must try better !

[aelmpvw]

i know that sentences should start with a capital letter but i can't be bothered to press the shift key

[Hypognosis]

@jim (and, in a roundabout fashion, @kval)

"language is fluid"

Yeah, already the word "Nazi" has softened from meaning "genocidal imperialist" to meaning "exacting, strict, overly precise".

"Grammar Nazi" needs an opposite. Grammar Stalinist, perhaps - makes up their own rules and ostracises any who speak out against newspeke.

Taking fluidity to its logical conclusion: Papua New Guinea has over 100 languages. That's what you get when you allow language to evolve rather than standardise. It becomes a barrier to communication between neighbouring tribes; the first step on the 'us and them' path and wars, every few generations.

Obviously, this will never be the case with English as it is now so international. The sad part is that British English is now just a minority dialect of American English. Language preservationists are not so much holding the fort as patching up a sandcastle… as the tide rushes in.

[stuey]

This is summat t think about innit, then:)
WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,

[BlackadderV]

If I didn't know any better I would hazard a guess at Chaucer.^^

[Hypognosis]

As an amazed Hagar the Horrible once said…

"Noocassle Yanited!"

[Hypognosis]

I was looking up a term I didn't understand, in another thread and came across this, which is all about our changing language, plus a bit about that old ABer favourite multiculturalism:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-the-mouths-of-teens-422688.html

but, after updating my lexicon, I scrolled back to the top to check the publication date and found it was from 2006!

I wonder what 'swag' means, this year? (article says original meaning had reversed from good, to bad, at that time).

[mibn2cweus]

They're, their, now. "Your", "you're", (and yore) when spoken are virtually indistinguishable. It's when you "right" them that some people . . . have problems with it.

[sandyRoe]

Ur knot rong.
Has the introduction of 'texting' had a deleterious effect on the language?

[Peter Pedant]

// Do they really not know the difference or what ? //


yeah they fick or wha' ?

in defence of the "could of" sinners, I write sudduv and kinduv when they are used as adverbs, as in " I sudduv hit him" or " I kinduv did it " and it drives the usual grammar police on this thread crazy !

[-Talbot-]

Not only do some ABers use 'your, instead of 'you're'........some of them cannot speak Latin. Yeah I know, unbelievable.

[Prudie]

I haven't read all the answers but it does matter to me and some need to realise that people do write other than on AB.