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Before arguing to me you should make sure that you have your facts straight.

Please be sure you have (your/the) facts straight before you make a decision.

In the above sentences is it correct to use 'your' or not?

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  • Without your, how do you know whose facts you are talking about? Possibly at issue is a third party set of facts. In that case you could use the or their, for example.
    – user3169
    Commented Apr 22, 2016 at 19:30
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    As a side note, it's usually, "Before arguing with me..." (not, "Before arguing to me...")
    – J.R.
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 11:28

2 Answers 2

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get your facts straight
have your facts right

would be phrases to use to mean

make sure you are using the correct information

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The idiom is "your facts straight". It does not mean that you own the facts. It means that you have verified the facts that you are asserting in your argument. In other words, they are "your facts" because they are the facts that you have chosen to make your argument.

Often we will make an argument based on facts that we remember. But sometimes we remember the facts incorrectly. If someone tells us to "get our facts straight" they are telling us either:

"Before you make this argument, check that the facts you are asserting are correct."

or

"I have heard your argument and it is incorrect because the facts you are asserting are incorrect. Go back and check your facts and come back with a new argument."

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