Native speakers make English grammar mistakes every day!
Sometimes it is because the person changes their mind halfway through a sentence:
Example – I haven’t seen her… yesterday.*
The person was perhaps going to say something like, “I haven’t seen her this week”.
But then perhaps the speaker suddenly thought about yesterday. In this sentence, the present perfect grammar tense should be replaced with past simple because of the use of the time marker adverb, yesterday.
So, a better sentence would be: I didn’t see her yesterday.
Mistakes like these are natural, so listeners do not think of them as big grammatical errors.
However, there are certain mistakes that some native speakers make and when they do…. well, people think they are uneducated, stupid or just too lazy to proofread the sentences they wrote.
The 3 worst English grammar mistakes
The most common written grammatical errors that should be avoided at all costs:
1: Your when you should write – You’re
2: Its when you should write – It’s
3: Their when you should write – Their or they’re
To correct these sins against English grammar, read the explanations and example sentences below.
Then do the Apostrophes Grammar Test!!!
THEIR (determiner): /ðeə/ Meaning: belonging to ‘they’, a group of people – Is that their car?
THERE (function word): /ðeə/ Can be used as a pronoun, adverb, or as an interjection.
Pronoun (to introduce the subject of the sentence): There’s a strange man knocking on the window downstairs.
Adverb: Have a seat there and I’ll be back in a minute
Interjection: There, that wasn’t too bad, was it?
THEY’RE (contraction – short form way of writing ‘they are’): The thing I don’t like about The Rolling Stones is that they’re too old!
– See more at: https://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/learn-english/commonly-confused-words-in-english#sthash.jD0n9W9B.dpuf
THEIR (determiner): /ðeə/ Meaning: belonging to ‘they’, a group of people – Is that their car?
THERE (function word): /ðeə/ Can be used as a pronoun, adverb, or as an interjection.
Pronoun (to introduce the subject of the sentence): There’s a strange man knocking on the window downstairs.
Adverb: Have a seat there and I’ll be back in a minute
Interjection: There, that wasn’t too bad, was it?
THEY’RE (contraction – short form way of writing ‘they are’): The thing I don’t like about The Rolling Stones is that they’re too old!
– See more at: https://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/learn-english/commonly-confused-words-in-english#sthash.jD0n9W9B.dpuf
THEIR (determiner): /ðeə/ Meaning: belonging to ‘they’, a group of people – Is that their car?
THERE (function word): /ðeə/ Can be used as a pronoun, adverb, or as an interjection.
Pronoun (to introduce the subject of the sentence): There’s a strange man knocking on the window downstairs.
Adverb: Have a seat there and I’ll be back in a minute
Interjection: There, that wasn’t too bad, was it?
THEY’RE (contraction – short form way of writing ‘they are’): The thing I don’t like about The Rolling Stones is that they’re too old!
– See more at: https://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/learn-english/commonly-confused-words-in-english#sthash.jD0n9W9B.dpuf
1. Your v You’re
YOU’RE is the short way of writing YOU ARE.
YOU’RE is NOT the same as YOUR
If you are looking (or… if you’re looking) at Facebook and one of your ‘facebook friends’ has published a selfie, and underneath the photo, someone has commented “Your so hot” that is WRONG. INCORRECT ENGLISH GRAMMAR!!! 🙂
In this situation, you are 100% correct to comment, “you’re vs your” and paste a link to this article to educate your grammar-phobic “friend”.
Then you should probably unfriend that person… they probably were not your friend in real life anyway, were they? Had you even ever met them face to face?
If you can write YOU ARE in your sentence, then you can also write YOU’RE
If you can NOT write out YOU ARE in your sentence, then you should write YOUR
You are welcome = You’re welcome
As James Blunt sang, “You’re beautiful”
YOUR shows that you are writing (or… you’re writing) about a thing that belongs to the person you are talking to
Example: Could I borrow your phone?
* Could I borrow you’re phone? IS INCORRECT because it would mean you are saying, Could I borrow you are phone? ….. which is stupid 🙂
For a full detailed explanation and a 10-question YOUR v YOU’RE grammar test, please CLICK HERE
Or take the full Apostrophes Grammar Test here.
2. Its v It’s
ITS is NOT the same as IT’S
ITS
ITS is like ‘his’ or ‘hers’.
ITS shows that a thing belongs (is owned) to something.
My cat is so horrible. Its eyes are evil!
London is world-famous for its tourist attractions.
IT’S
It’s means ‘it is’
or it’s means ‘it has’
It’s been raining all week! (It has been raining…)
It’s so sunny today. Lets eat outside! (It is so sunny….)
As U2 sang: It’s a beautiful day
For a longer explanation and a short test on this grammar point, please CLICK HERE
Or take the full Apostrophes Grammar Test here.
3. Their v There v They’re
Their shows that a thing or some things belong to two or more people.
It is a possessive adjective like my, your, his, her, its, our and their.
Their is almost always followed by a noun… or an adjective attached to a noun.
Examples:
1. Their car is old, but it still works OK.
2. Their new house must be really expensive.
3. The guys in One Direction are hot, but I don’t like their music.
– See more at: https://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/learn-english/there-their-they-are-difference-in-english-grammar#sthash.P2tu9GSF.dpuf
Their is not the same as they’re or there!!!
THEIR
Their shows that a thing/things belong to two or more people.
It is like my, your, his, her, its, our and their.
Examples:
1. Their new puppy is so friendly
2. Their children always behave really badly when they are in the supermarket.
3. I hate One Direction! They are not good looking and their music is rubbish.
THEY’RE
‘They are’ is the 3rd person plural form of ‘to be’: I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, you (plural) are, they are
If you can write THEY ARE in your sentence, then you can replace it with the short form, they’re.
THERE
1. There tells you ‘where’ something is.
That woman over there has got the weirdest haircut I’ve ever seen
Could you bring me that chair, please? No, not that one… that one there
We went to that new bar called ‘Eat and Greet’. Have you been there yet?
2. There tells you if something exists.
In this situation, it is like using THERE IS, but you are talking about plural/more than one
There are so many famous buildings in London – it’s so cool!
There are too many idiots in here. Let’s go somewhere quieter.
As Foo Fighters sang, “There goes my hero…”
Please CLICK HERE for example sentences, a full explanation and a short quiz on this grammar: There v their v they’re
Or take the full Apostrophes Grammar Test here.
