Part Two - Your and You're
This one's going to be quick and easy.
I was in a tacky little gift shop looking at all the kitsch when I came across this:
(Image from misspellt.com. I took a picture on my phone but I live in the dark ages and have no way to upload it.)
Why was I upset?
The big red arrow probably gives it away.
Just in case you didn't get it, let's check out what's wrong with this bad boy.
Your and you're are homonyms or more specifically homophones. The word homonym comes from Greek; homo means "same" and nym means "name". Phon means sound, so homophones are two words that sound the same. But more on that later...
Long story short:
You're is a contraction of YOU ARE.
It's what should have been used in this case. "Smile, you are on vacation!"
Your is a second person possessive adjective. It describes something belongs to someone.
So we also could have fixed this by saying, "Smile on your vacation!" because in that case the vacation would belong to you.
I almost bought this just because I was so upset by the error.
How many people do you think buy this ironically?
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