Grammatically correct sentence where "you're" and "your" can be interchanged?

Question

Most grammar checkers are capable of detecting the the misuse of "your" and "you're"; providing the necessary correction.

I'm curious though, is there any sentence that can be constructed where replacing "your" with "you're" keeps the sentence grammatically correct, but changes the meaning?

If this is not possible, what grammar rules are in place that prevents these edge cases from occurring?

I think it would probably have to involve homonyms. your would normally be followed by a noun phrase, while you're is followed by a verb phrase or adjective. And it would likely be a very short construct. — Barmar, Jan 03 '15 at 00:22
@Barmar I believe the word "fine" meets the criteria. "your fine" (as in a charge) and "you're fine" are both valid fragments. — ApproachingDarknessFish, Jan 03 '15 at 00:33
@ApproachingDarknessFish Can you make a complete sentence that's still grammatical with both phrases? — Barmar, Jan 03 '15 at 00:34
@Barmar Trivially: I know your/you’re fine is just one such. — tchrist, Jan 03 '15 at 00:56
@DavidRicherby I thought I remembered that too, but I misremembered: what was stuck in my memory was about "its" versus "it's". Perhaps that's what you're thinking of too? — hvd, Jan 03 '15 at 13:37
@hvd This one? I think you're right: that's probably what I was thinking of. — David Richerby, Jan 03 '15 at 15:00
In honor of the Beastie Boys: Your right to party and you're right to party! — Elliott Frisch, Jan 04 '15 at 06:44

score 86 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

86

a. I love you and your bananas.

b. I love you and you're bananas.

This particular case depends on the your/you're coming after an independent clause followed by "and," since its feasibility depends on functioning either as a second direct object or as another independent clause. It also depends on the noun serving either as a thing that someone might be in possession of (the bananas we eat) or as an adjective or noun complement describing a person (bananas=crazy). Easiest if that noun is plural or uncountable.

The same sentence could be constructed with nuts, garbage, and other nouns which I'll let you brainstorm because my stormer hurts.

You can also (and thanks to @Barmar for drawing attention to this) use verbs, in which case they act as a gerund with the possessive pronoun and a present participle with the "you're." As in:

a. I love you and your cooking.

b. I love you and you're cooking.

Or:

a. I despise you and your smoking.

b. I despise you and you're smoking.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Jan 03 '15 at 00:34

Rusty Tuba

5,945

There are also numerous verbs than can be substituted. – Barmar Jan 03 '15 at 00:37
11

I know your/you’re bananas. – tchrist Jan 03 '15 at 00:42
35

The 'and' is not always necessary: I've heard your singing at the club / I've heard you're singing at the club. I can tell your family / I can tell you're family. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 03 '15 at 00:58
1

@EdwinAshworth That should probably be posted as a separate answer, since it's a different construct. – Barmar Jan 03 '15 at 01:01
@Barmar I'm not sure that this is a good question for ELU; it's either word-puzzles or a valid question on say a voice-recognition-software site. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 03 '15 at 01:05
A comma would be in the second of these cases – Evorlor Jan 03 '15 at 14:41
2

@Evorlor: Not necessarily. Most style guides (including Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Style Manual, and Garner's Modern American Usage) permit (if you in fact grant them authority) the omission of the comma before a coordinating conjunction separating independent clauses if those independent clauses are very short or closely connecting. I believe my independent clauses qualify as "very short." – Rusty Tuba Jan 03 '15 at 15:00
I actually first though that "you're bananas" is funny, understanding it literally, until you explained that bananas=crazy. Thanks for explanation :) – Ruslan Jan 05 '15 at 19:12
3

You can also rearrange the bananas sentences - "You're bananas and I love you" vs. "Your bananas and I love you". :) – Rob Watts Jan 05 '15 at 21:37
@RobWatts Except "Your bananas..." doesn't make sense in that variation because bananas don't have feelings. – JamesRyan Jan 06 '15 at 11:14

ApproachingDarknessFish · Answer 2 · 2016-02-08T10:06:35.557

41

Forgive me if there's some subtlety of grammar that I've missed, but I believe the following sentence works:

I know your fine.

I am aware of the amount of money that you have been fined. Alternatively:

I know you're fine.

I am aware that you are doing alright.

In my opinion, both sentences would work better with a "that" inserted before your/you're, but I don't think it's strictly required.

edited Feb 08 '16 at 10:06

answered Jan 03 '15 at 02:03

ApproachingDarknessFish

1,030

47

This is also the basis for the "grammar" meme (which is really about spelling): Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit. – Alan Munn Jan 03 '15 at 02:13
Also, "I know you're fine." = I know you're sexy. – miltonaut Jan 03 '15 at 02:19
@miltonaut Shouldn't there be a comma for that to work? "I know your, sexy." And, now that I think about it, it should be "I know yours, sexy.*", so perhaps I'm misunderstanding the grammatical trickery. – Konrad Viltersten Jan 05 '15 at 11:27
@camden_kid Both sentences are defined immediately after they are written. – ApproachingDarknessFish Jan 05 '15 at 17:36
@KonradViltersten I was just giving an additional meaning to I know you're alright/okay for "I know you're fine." – miltonaut Jan 06 '15 at 13:03
1

@miltonaut Oh, I see it now. I was misled by the equality sign, you see. Definition-wise speaking "being fine" isn't equal to "being sexy". The first is a superset to the latter. But that's a nerdy mathematics being nitpicking, so you need not to worry about that. :) – Konrad Viltersten Jan 06 '15 at 17:50

score 39 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 04 '15 at 21:27

39

There's an old joke that goes like "A man walks into a psychiatrist's office. He's completely naked except that he's wrapped himself in Saran wrap. The psychiatrist takes one look at him and says 'well, I can clearly see your/you're nuts'."

answered Jan 04 '15 at 21:27

kyle90

391

Welcome to [ELU.SE] @kyle. This is one of the few jokes I've seen here that actually work as an answer. But since I have no idea what Saran wrap is (this is an international site), I have to guess that it's clear. – Jan 04 '15 at 22:00
1

@andy256 Yes, it's a transparent, stretchy, very thin plastic material that comes in wound sheets. – ApproachingDarknessFish Jan 04 '15 at 23:06
@ApproachingDarknessFish Sounds like cling wrap. – Jan 04 '15 at 23:10
1

@andy256 Yes, I believe saran wrap and cling wrap are both specific brands of "plastic wrap." – ApproachingDarknessFish Jan 05 '15 at 00:31
"Wound sheets" would be bandaids? – Tom Robinson Jan 05 '15 at 06:24
1

@TomRobinson "wound" as in the past tense of "wind" – Brian S Jan 05 '15 at 15:44
1

@TomRobinson Another way to put it would be that it comes in "rolls", like a roll of aluminum foil or a roll of toilet paper. – mbm29414 Jan 05 '15 at 18:34

score 27 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 04 '15 at 06:36

27

Your right to believe what you want is important.

vs

You're right to believe what you want is important.

answered Jan 04 '15 at 06:36

TonyM

627

The first one lacks the predicate, hence not being a full sentence, right? – Konrad Viltersten Jan 05 '15 at 11:28
2

@KonradViltersten Isn't the predicate of the first sentence just "is important"? – Ajedi32 Jan 05 '15 at 15:08
@Ajedi32 Of course. I missed that, somehow... Thanks! – Konrad Viltersten Jan 05 '15 at 15:16
1

I misread it the same way at first. It's easy to misparse what you want is important as the object of to believe. – Barmar Jan 05 '15 at 19:41

score 22 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 03 '15 at 12:08

22

"I know your trouble." = "I understand the trouble you have."

"I know you're trouble." = "I know that you are going to be a trouble (for me/us)."

answered Jan 03 '15 at 12:08

user21820

2,140

score 16 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 04 '15 at 03:50

16

You're acting like your mom.

vs

You're acting like you're mom.

answered Jan 04 '15 at 03:50

R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE

1,531

13

It's grammatical. Sibling A tells Sibling B, "You're acting like you're [our] mom." – 000 Jan 04 '15 at 07:03
3

@JoeFrambach: Technically in written English we conventionally capitalize "Mom" in the second instance, but it would be fine if spoken. – user21820 Jan 04 '15 at 07:30
1

@user21820: I don't follow that convention though I suppose I've seen it. But yes in spoken English the distinction goes away. FWIW, in my dialect of spoken English, the two sentences are not pronounced the same either. They have different vowels and "you're" is "sesqui-syllabic", the only differences from "you are" being the timing and weakened/missing vowel from "are". – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Jan 04 '15 at 11:56
@R..: Yes in my dialect too we pronounce the way you do, but I was assuming that many people pronounce them the same, giving rise to this question in the first place. I guess not everyone follows the traditional conventions in writing as well. – user21820 Jan 04 '15 at 11:59
Deleting my previous comment, and upvoting your post. I can't explain why I hadn't see the grammaticality in sentence No.2. – Mari-Lou A Jan 05 '15 at 06:13

score 15 · Answer 7 · edited Jan 06 '15 at 14:10

15

Grammar is the difference between:

knowing your shit

and

knowing you’re shit

Both are correct, but obviously have very different meanings.

edited Jan 06 '15 at 14:10

tchrist

134,759

answered Jan 05 '15 at 03:42

Mark Micallef

1,496
2
12
11

8

And etymology is a matter of knowing yore shit. – Sven Yargs Jan 06 '15 at 10:45

score 7 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 04 '15 at 14:35

7

Your toast!

(...is getting very dark)

vs

You're toast!

(Gotcha!)

answered Jan 04 '15 at 14:35

Jens

475

2

I'm pretty sure that the first one is a fragment, not a complete sentence. – ApproachingDarknessFish Jan 04 '15 at 23:07
5

You could prepend "I see" for full sentences. Also "I see your home", "I see you're home." – Nick Matteo Jan 05 '15 at 03:23

score 5 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 06 '15 at 13:48

5

greeting/insult: It's good to see you're/your back!

answered Jan 06 '15 at 13:48

dave austin

51

Dragon · Answer 10 · 2015-01-13T09:38:02.560

3

Here's a wonderful comedy sketch based entirely on your/you're confusion:

Two Ronnies - Your Nuts, M'lord

which can be confused with the insulting You're nuts, M'lord!

edited Jan 13 '15 at 09:38

answered Jan 06 '15 at 10:29

Dragon

161

This isn't an answer to the question. Some quotes from the sketch probably would be. – Andrew Leach Jan 06 '15 at 12:39
1

Nice clip! Hope you don't mid the edit, but your post was being flagged for deletion, so I edited it to make the point clearer!:) – Araucaria - Him Jan 06 '15 at 15:53

Grammatically correct sentence where "you're" and "your" can be interchanged?

10 Answers10