Through my work as a professional book editor, I’ve noticed that two of the most commonly misused words are “your” and “you’re”.

Here’s an easy way to tell when to use which form: try to put “you are” in the sentence instead of “your” or “you’re” and see if it makes sense. If it does, you’ll use the contraction “you’re”.

For example: “(You are) going to the store.” Since this sentence works, you can replace “you are” with “you’re”, making your new sentence, “You’re going to the store.”

But take a look at this sentence: “(You are) big presentation is today.” Doesn’t quite make sense, does it? In this case, you’ll use “your” so that the sentence reads, “Your big presentation is today.”

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