I remember my elementary school days when I was learning grammar for the first time. It was traumatic and I blocked most of it out but one thing that I distinctly remember is learning the difference between ‘you’re’ and ‘your’. Although this may be the only thing I distinctly remember learning, I still struggle to use these words correctly in sentences. Let’s review!
If we all remember from the 4th grade ‘you’re’ is a contraction. This means that it is two words smashed into one word with an apostrophe added to remind you of the smashing. ‘They would’ can easily become ‘they’d’ and ‘does not’ can become ‘doesn’t’. The word ‘you’re’ is derived from that same smashing together concept
You are-> you’re
Your, on the other hand, is possessive. It shows possession of something. Ownership, not spiritual.
If you are writing a sentence and don’t know which to choose, the simplest way is to substitute in other words.
Example:
1) Your hair is great!
2) You’re hair is great!
To figure out which of the above sentences is correct we will substitute in other words
1) My hair is great!
2) You are hair is great!
If you are able to substitute in ‘my’ into the sentence and the sentence still GRAMATICALLY makes sense (it may not be what you were originally trying to say, but the sentence sounds correct) then the correct choice is ‘your’. If you can substitute ‘you are’ into the sentence and it still makes sense then ‘you’re’ is the correct choice. In the above example the first sentence is correct. If you are struggling to remember which to use, always substitute in the replacement words. If you can remember that ‘you’re’ is a contraction and ‘your’ is possessive, you’re going to be grammatically correct.
The Magic of Grammar 
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