Junior Grammar Notes - Confused Words

They’re, There, Their

• ’They’re’ refers to ‘they are.’
• ’There’ often refers to a place. If you take away the ‘t,’ it’s ‘here.’
• ’Their’ shows ownership.

Your and You're

• ‘You’re’ refers to ‘you are.’
• ‘Your’ shows ownership.

Its and It's

• It’s’ refers to ‘it is’ or ‘it has.’
• ‘Its’ shows ownership.

Affect (VERB) and Effect (NOUN)

• Affect is most widely used as a VERB meaning “to influence.”
• His decision affected the entire family.
• Her time in New Orleans affected her outlook on life.
• Effect is most widely used as a NOUN meaning “consequence, result, outcome.”
• I worried about the effect on his eyes.
• What effect will that have?

Whose and Who's

• ‘Who’s’ refers to ‘who is’ or ‘who has’ and is an apostrophe used for compression.
• ‘Whose’ shows possession.