Post by Twilight Sparkle on Jun 18, 2012 11:32:32 GMT -5
Welcome, everypony! Please, take a seat anywhere, the lesson's about to start. It's an important lesson, too--correct use of apostrophes is a fast way to make your writing look much more intelligent! (Or at least, not incorrect.) Shall we begin?
To start off, we'll quickly define just what 'possessive' words and 'contractions' are. As the term would imply, possessive words note that somepony owns something--it is my plate, your mother, and so on. Contractions are when an apostrophe is used to show that one word actually stands for two. 'Can't' is actually short for can not, 'isn't' is short for is not, etc. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's look at a couple often-made mistakes.
Your and You're
Let's start with a simple one here. 'Your' is a possessive word; That apple is yours, isn't it, Applejack? Note how you don't add an apostrophe even with the 's' after it. It doesn't need one because it's already possessive. 'You're' is a contraction. It means you are. "You're your mother's child." See? Moving on.
Its and It's
Much the same as the last one. 'Its' is a possessive word, used in such contexts as 'That is its home.' 'It's' is a contraction for it is. So, as an example, "Its idea is interesting, but it's also crazy." Once again, note that you never put an apostrophe after its.
Would've and Would of
This doesn't actually contain any possessive words, but is nonetheless a common mistake. Because of the pronunciation, some people believe that the contraction 'would've' is spelled 'would of.' It's worth noting that 'would of' makes no grammatical sense and is never used anywhere. 'Would've' is actually a contraction for would have.
This was just a short lesson, but nonetheless an important one. Next time, we'll go over many other words that are frequently mistaken for each other. Until then, class dismissed!
To start off, we'll quickly define just what 'possessive' words and 'contractions' are. As the term would imply, possessive words note that somepony owns something--it is my plate, your mother, and so on. Contractions are when an apostrophe is used to show that one word actually stands for two. 'Can't' is actually short for can not, 'isn't' is short for is not, etc. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's look at a couple often-made mistakes.
Your and You're
Let's start with a simple one here. 'Your' is a possessive word; That apple is yours, isn't it, Applejack? Note how you don't add an apostrophe even with the 's' after it. It doesn't need one because it's already possessive. 'You're' is a contraction. It means you are. "You're your mother's child." See? Moving on.
Its and It's
Much the same as the last one. 'Its' is a possessive word, used in such contexts as 'That is its home.' 'It's' is a contraction for it is. So, as an example, "Its idea is interesting, but it's also crazy." Once again, note that you never put an apostrophe after its.
Would've and Would of
This doesn't actually contain any possessive words, but is nonetheless a common mistake. Because of the pronunciation, some people believe that the contraction 'would've' is spelled 'would of.' It's worth noting that 'would of' makes no grammatical sense and is never used anywhere. 'Would've' is actually a contraction for would have.
This was just a short lesson, but nonetheless an important one. Next time, we'll go over many other words that are frequently mistaken for each other. Until then, class dismissed!