Have you ever seen sentences such as these, perhaps on a social networking website?

“Hope your having a good day!”

“There little boy is so cute!”

“I here you got a promotion. Congrats!”

Among the most common grammatical errors seen in the written word today, the above examples represent the three most commonly misused homophones in the English language. With all the technology at our fingertips, as long as the word is spelled correctly, no grammar checker can detect the error. It is up to the writer to know what he or she is trying convey and the proper words to use.

Your: a pronoun, used to replace a noun.
You’re: a contraction, short form of “you are”

When using one of these words ask yourself if you mean to indicate possession of another person (e.g., your book) or shortening you are. In the above example, “you’re” should have been used.

There: a direction or state of being
Their: pronoun, used to replace a group and indicates possession
They’re: a contraction, short form of “they are”

There and their are the most commonly misused of this group.

Please put the books over there.
Joe was there for six hours.

Their little boy is so cute!
A friend of theirs came by for a visit.

Hear: present tense, as in one of the five senses
Here: a direction or state of being

I hear you were given a promotion.
Here are the receipts you needed.

Similarly, the past tense of hear also is confused.

Heard: Past tense of hear
Herd: A large group of animals such as cows or horses

She heard the car rumble in the night.
The herd moved closer to water and food.

Grammar checking when proofreading is the best way to spot these errors. When reading, the mind may overlook the flow of the sentence because it sounds correct. By looking at each word singly you may find a stray homophone or two before it is too late.