Grammar

Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today in the presence of the Internet to discuss something very, very, VERY important.
Grammar.
Friends, I fear that the apostrophe has died of misuse.  To mourn its passing, it is time to go over some very important terms.  There is, in fact, a difference between "it's" and "its," and the same thing goes for "you're" and "your."  The latter is my particular pet peeve.
The differences?

As stated in A Writer's Reference, Seventh Edition (which also reminded me that you italicize book titles, which I sometimes forget), the difference is that "Its is a possessive pronoun; it's is a contraction for it is." (Hacker and Sommers, p 147).  Translation: it's means that IT has a current state of being; its means that you don't know the gender identity of something that owns something else (or it doesn't HAVE a gender identity), so you're calling that thing 'it.'

Now, for your and you're.  Unlike with it's/ its, which is forgivable up through freshman year and sometimes beyond if you didn't pay attention in freshman year English class, your and you're is actually a thing you need to be aware of, if only because Spelling and Grammar Check may not yell at you for it.  But the difference between these two is similar to the difference stated above: that is, you're is a state of being that YOU inhabit; your is something that belongs to you.

What I see here is a trend: many users of the English language can no longer differentiate between states of being and nouns.  This is disturbing.  Are we really that materialistic?

Whilst you are pondering the deep questions of the universe, I need to also mention something that is a peeve of mine as well.
I have noticed that some people (who shall remain nameless) use "yea" and "yeah" interchangeably. I did look up the definitions of each, and they are both statements of affirmation; however, PLEASE remember that "yea" is pronounced like "yay" and not like "yeah."  If you wish to say "yeah," please do not text me the word "yea."
Thank you, and goodnight.