As I find myself looking at everything through a yellow haze, I’m once again reminded of where I am. Having lived in Georgia 4 years now, it amazes me how I forget about this phenomenon of “pollen” each year until the stuff magically appears like the 11th plague (slight exaggeration). You see, make fun of me if you will, but in Oklahoma pollen is something you only hear about, and severe allergy sufferers are the only ones to notice its arrival. I had seen no visible proof of this thing called “pollen” till I moved out here. Basically, now I’ve seen the same amount of pollen fall as I have seen snow fall here.

I'll be the first to admit that my writing isn't perfect. But there are a few things that are difficult for me to overlook...which is why I find it especially dissapointing when I make the mistakes that have become my very own pet peeves. Case in point, when I used a plural instead of a possesive in my last post.

In an effort to better myself and the grammatical health of the world as a whole, I am going to outline a few common, simple mistakes.

1) Your vs. You're
'Your' is only is only meant to be used when you're writing about something possesive, such as: "I would like to borrow your bike." 'You're' is only to be used when the words 'you' and 'are' can be used. Such as "You're a great friend" (Notice I could have said 'You are a great friend').

2) Their, There and They're
This one should be obvious based on the above examples. 'Their' is meant to depict possesion by a plural number of things. 'There' is meant to refer to place. 'They're' is meant to be used in situations when 'they are' can be substituted.

3) Its vs. It's
Again, this is getting rather repetative, but I see it all the time. 'It's' is only used when the words 'it is' can be inserted and still keep the same meaning. 'Its' can be used in all other instances.

4) And I vs. And Me
My mother drilled this into me, and for that I am grateful...I think. Had she not drilled this one into me I would not be so bothered by the misuse of the two pronouns, nor would I obsess over them in my own writing. I'm not sure what the best way to explain this one is, but I'll give it a shot. 'I' should only be used when you can eliminate the other item and still have the sentence make sense. Example: "My mother and I are going to the mall" If you eliminate 'my mother' you would have "I are going to the mall," which is obviously incorrect. However, if you said "My mother and I would be happy to have you for dinner," it would be correct. If you eliminate 'my mother' the sentence still makes sense: "I would be happy to have you for dinner."

The most common place I see this mistake would have to be in labeling pictures. I see, "This is Jane and I at her birthday." You wouldn't say "this is I at her birthday," or even "this is I at Jane's birthday."

I'm not sure if I used the best examples and I could be wrong in some of them.


These are just a few things I've been keeping in =P

And now, I shall leave you with something truly inspirational for reading through all of that ^.