Grammar. Use It.

It is so frustrating to be reading an article somewhere and have these glaring grammatical mistakes - you know the kind.  Your vs you're, that kind of deal.  So here's my rant.

When you are writing, especially when you are writing for an audience, it is always, ALWAYS prudent to double-check what you've written before you publish it.  Standard spell check is not going to catch grammatical errors and I'm not sure MS Word's grammar check would catch these types of errors either.  Below is a short dummies' guide to how to grammar, because apparently nobody actually paid attention in school.  (I am not an English major, so this isn't exactly going to be perfect with how I describe it, but hopefully it will be accurate enough.)

Pronouns that mean possession:

your
yours
their
theirs
my
mine
her
hers
his
our
ours

Sentence examples for selected words:

Your wallet is on the table.  Their car only has 5 seats.  That is my house on the left.  That sandwich is hers.

Pronouns that are action-oriented:

you're
they're
I'm
we're

Sentence examples:

You're going to be in the third car of the train.  You're potty training your child.  (There's an example with the two most maddening ones.)  They're not on the baseball field.  We're going to the park.

Other words that I'm not sure how to categorize (many homonyms):

there - He is over there, playing on their trampoline.
here - Here comes the bride!
you - You live in a dwelling.
me - Help me memorize polyatomic ions.
him - I have to take him to the doctor today.
it - The box of rocks is with it.
its - The cat isn't feeling well, its stomach has an ulcer.
it's - I'm going to be late, it's too snowy to drive at a normal speed.
to - I'm going to the park.
too - We're going to the park, too.
two - There are two more people at the park.
are - You are my sunshine.
oar - You use an oar to row a boat.

Hopefully I've made my point.  I'm so sick of reading grammatical errors constantly, even in what I thought were respectable publications, like Time magazine or USA Today.  Fucking learn grammar, people.  I learned this shit when I was 7 years old.  It is not difficult.  AND PROOFREAD. For fuck's sake.  Stop abusing the poor apostrophes.