“You’re” Means “You Are”

This is the easy part…if you can substitute in “you are,” then you use the contraction “you’re.”A contraction means that part of the words are missing. In the word “you’re,” the apostrophe stands in for the missing ‘a’ in ‘are.’ Whenever you write “you’re,” you mean “you are.” So, when I say “when you’re writing your GED essay,” I mean “when you are writing your GED essay.”

“Your” Means “Belonging to You”

“Your” is a possessive pronoun…that’s a fancy way of saying that it describes something belonging to “you.” An easy way to remember when to use “your” is…use it when you DON’T mean “you are.” I mean, it would sound silly to say “when you’re writing you are GED essay.” Of course that’s not what I mean! So, the correct spelling is “your.” But the other way to figure it out is to think about what it really means. I mean, when you’re writing the GED essay that belongs to you… the one that you will write! Your house belongs to you… your car belongs to you… your voice belongs to you! And “your” means “belonging to you.”
So, just remember to keep these commonly confused words straight when you take the GED test. Good luck!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Here’s the difference:

“Their” is a pronoun, meaning belonging to them. So, you’d use if if you said, “I’m going over to THEIR house to see THEIR new dog.” Because it’s the house belonging to them, and the new dog belonging to them.

“They’re” is a contraction. That makes it easy. It means “they are.” If you can substitute in “they are” in what you’re saying, then the right spelling is “they’re,” as in “THEY’RE going to come to my house next week.” Because you could say, “They are going to come to my house next week.”

“There” means a place, like “After they come here, I will go THERE again for the next visit.” You’re talking about a place to go. “There” is also used at the beginning of sentences, when you say “There is” or “There are,” like saying, “THERE are lots of dogs in my neighborhood.”

If you can keep these three spellings straight, it will really help you out!

For more information on the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

In what way do you use the word to, and too?

Great question! That’s one of the most easily confused words, and it’s one that shows up on the GED writing test a lot.  I’ll add “two” to the list, too…even though it’s a little less commonly confused.

The word “two” is the number 2, so it’s pretty easy to figure out when to use it.

The word “too” means “also,” as in, “I’m going to the supermarket, and I’ll stop at the drugstore, too.” It can also mean an excess… as in “I’ve got too much coffee.” or “It’s too late to change your mind.” You can usually figure out when to use “too” by testing whether you’re trying to say ‘also’ or that there’s more than enough of something.

That leaves the word “to.” That’s the hard one…the easy solution is to check the meaning and eliminate “two” and “too” first. If neither “two” nor “too” is correct, the right spelling is “to.” The word “to” can be a preposition showing a direction you’re going, as in “I’m going to the store.” Or, it can be part of what’s called an “infinitive.” In other words, it’s next to a verb… it goes with the verb, like “I like to fish.” or “I got to see the Eiffel Tower on my vacation.” If it’s in front of a verb, then it’s an infinitive.

Hope this helps!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.