Quick tip: When to use "your" and when to use "you're"

Seems like some people don’t know there’s a difference between your and you’re; I frequently see people writing things like "Your doing fine." (And I respond "I didn’t know I had any doing fine. Where is my doing fine?) It’s that whole homophone confusion issue; when two words sound exactly the same, it’s easy to yews the wrong won.

Obviously, you all know that your is a possessive pronoun, and you’re is the contraction for you are. But for your friends and relatives who don’t, here’s a quick tip: When in doubt about which one to use, try replacing it with our. If the sentence still makes sense, then just add the y back.

For example, the sentence "Is that your Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?" also works as "Is that our Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?" On the other hand, "Your going to love seeing Bugs Bunny steal Marvin’s Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator," doesn’t make any sense as "Our going to love seeing Bugs Bunny steal Marvin’s Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator," so clearly we used the wrong your. We need the contraction you’re.

[Editor’s note: The biggest problem here is that people who make this error are not usually aware that they’re making the error. Acknowledging that you have a problem is the most important step.]