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To: georgiadevildog

Please do Your and You're, Who and Whom, Here and Hear. Those are a few that drive me nuts!


16 posted on 12/22/2004 9:43:36 AM PST by jellybean (Free 'Ole Crusty!)
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To: jellybean
First: your / you're:

Your is always possessive. If the word is NOT designed to show ownership of something, "your" is the wrong choice.

You're is always a contraction of the words "you are." If you remove "you're" from the sentence and replace it with "you are," it should still make perfect sense.

Second: who / whom:

I must be honest. I still do not have total mastery of these two words and their usage. Most of the time, I can get them right. Other times, I can't decide which to use, and I wind up changing the sentence to eliminate the need to use the word. As a general rule, though, "who" is the subjective form of the pronoun, while "whom" is the objective. In other words, "who" would be used as the subject of a sentence, while "whom" would be used as the object.

Best example I know: "Who did what to whom?"

"Who" is the subject, and "whom" is the object.

Third: here / hear.

If your word has nothing to do with sound or the sense of hearing, then "hear" is not your word. That is the basic test. Still, on this one, I must admit a single weakness in usage. When I hear someone say, "Here, here" as a gesture of agreement to the comments of another, I don't know which to use.

29 posted on 12/22/2004 9:50:41 AM PST by georgiadevildog (Get to work. You aren't being paid to believe in the power of your dreams.)
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