Why is "your" incorrectly used to communicate "you're," the contraction for "you are?"

Question

Lately it seems that in advertisements, websites, business and casual communications, people use 'your' instead of 'you are.' I have seen sentences like this: 'In one easy step your set to go.' Instead of "you're set to go." Not that everyone uses perfect grammar all of the time, but some errors are glaring and are becoming commonplace. I guess it's just a sign of the times.

Answer 1

You've hit my pet peeve; advertisers who develop grammatically incorrect messages and don't get them edited. I've seen any number of examples of this over the years, and I find it to be an embarrassment.

Answer 2

You've pretty much answered your own question - copy editors are getting sloppier these days. I think it looks unprofessional to put out a marketing message that contains grammatical errors like your example. Same thing with the use of "its" and "it's" - A few years ago, I once saw an ad in a movie theater that was put out by my own employer that contained a grammatical typo, and felt embarassed. The next day I emailed the director of my agency to make sure it got fixed.

The best way to ensure that grammar standards are maintained is to call attention to the mistakes - let the advertiser know that they've goofed, and let others know that they've goofed - if a grammar or spelling error is especially heinous or humorous - you can even send it in to Letterman or some newspaper columns that publish funny errors.

Answer 3

I expect an occasional from my 8th graders, but it just horrifies me it so widespread on advertising. I don't know why it has become so common place.

Answer 4

I dunno why. You're right, it's getting more & more common. I've also noticed more & more misspellings on TV than I ever used to ... even on PBS news programs, where I never used to see any at all. No wonder they call it PBS now -for "Public Broadcasting System"- instead of ETV, for "Educational TV," like they used to.