Contractions vs. Possessive Pronouns: Using You’re/Your ...

[Pages:1]WRITER'S RESOURCE LAB

20+ years of student success

csulb.edu/wrl (562) 985-4329

LAB 206

Contractions vs. Possessive Pronouns:

Using You're/Your, It's/Its, Who's/Whose, They're/Their/There

Overview: Apostrophes are used in two main ways in English: to indicate possessive nouns (the girl's coat; the students' books) and to mark missing letters in contractions (isn't, doesn't, haven't, won't). Possessive pronouns can be a little tricky. Their meaning is already possessive (his, her, your, their), so they don't contain apostrophes.

Instructions: In each set of words listed under the title above, one is a contraction and one is a possessive pronoun. In the first set, you're means you are and your is the possessive pronoun. The last set, they're/their/there, contains a third option. When you get to that set, remember that there is usually used to indicate location (My sister is standing over there) or existence (There are twelve students in the room). Using this information about the first and last sets, you can figure out the correct answers in each sentence below. You're vs. Your: If _____ coat isn't ready at the cleaners, _____ going to have nothing warm to wear this evening, and _____ mother will probably have a fit. If _____ really planning on going to the party, you'd better make plans to borrow a coat just in case, or _____ arms will freeze and fall off. Besides, _____ old enough now to know to wear a coat when it's cold.

It's vs. Its: When _____ time to be fed, the dog heads straight for _____ dish. Now that _____ been decided who will wash the car, _____ time to get started on it. When the cat got _____ tail caught in the refrigerator door, it yowled _____ head off. Let's try to find out whether _____ too late to get tickets. I'm sure the chair is expensive; _____ an antique, and _____ surface is in excellent condition.

Who's vs. Whose: I don't know _____ going to pay for the band at the party tonight, and I don't know _____ problem it is, but it's not mine. The committee _____ decision it was to hire the group should also decide _____ supposed to follow through on it, including _____ going to have to come up with the money. The people _____ actions have produced this mess should now clean it up.

They're, Their, There: _____ are three main kinds of pests at movie theaters. The worst are the ones who insist on talking to _____ friends during the film. The parents who bring _____ little children are also annoying; the children sit _____, not understanding anything, and either ask questions all the time or cry. _____ so loud. Then _____ are those who loudly crunch _____ way through a huge tub of popcorn. Unfortunately, _____ isn't anything one can do about most of these pests. _____ always going to be part of the movie-going experience. Practice: Read through two paragraphs of your essay, looking for the words above. Use the exercises on this sheet to help you determine whether you have used contractions and possessive pronouns correctly.

Copyright (C) 2016. All rights reserved. This handout is part of a library of instructional materials used in California State University, Long Beach's writing center, the Writer's Resource Lab. Educators and students are welcome to distribute copies as long as they do so with attribution to all organizations and authors. Commercial distribution is prohibited.

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download