Your and You're

Tell the possessive 'your' apart from the contraction 'you're'.

'Your' and 'you're' sound alike, so they are often mixed up in writing. 'Your' shows that something belongs to the person you are talking to: your coat, your idea. 'You're' is a contraction meaning 'you are'. The apostrophe replaces the a in 'are'. The quickest test is to say 'you are' in place of the word. If the sentence still makes sense, use 'you're'. If it sounds wrong, use 'your'.

Try it: 'You're going to need your raincoat. ' Test the first: 'You are going to need' makes sense, so 'you're' is right. Test the second: 'need you are raincoat' does not make sense, so 'your' is right.

• 1your = belongs to you.
• 2you're = you are.
• 3Swap in 'you are' to test which one fits.