The triumvirate of their, there, and they’re can flummox writers at all levels. The confusion stemming from these words is that they are homophones, meaning they have the same pronunciation but differ in meaning and derivation. Today we explore the differences between their, there, and they’re.
Their is the possessive case of the pronoun they, as in They left their cell phones at home. Their is generally plural, but is increasingly accepted in place of the singular his or her after indefinite singular antecedent, such as someone: Someone left their book on the table.
There is an adverb that means “in or at that place,” as in She is there now. In this sense, there is essentially the opposite of here. There is also used as a pronoun introducing a sentence or clause, as in There is still hope.
They’re is a contraction of the words they and are, as in They’re mastering the differences between their, there, and they’re.
If you find yourself coming up blank when trying to determine which one to use, take a hint from the spelling of each: Their has the word heir in it, which may remind you that the term indicates possession. There has the word here within it. This should serve as a reminder that it is appropriate for talking about places, whether figurative or literal. And the apostrophe in they’re should tip you off that it’s the product of two words: they are. If you can substitute they are into your sentence and retain the meaning, then they’re is the correct homophone to use.
121 Comments
there aint no hope for some of yall
Nice jod
hi hi hi
hi
Oh come on! anyone with a little schooling knows, or should know, the difference
Not all people will know it some people might read your comment and feel stupid because they don’t.
To be sure, my intention was not to make anyone feel stupid, but to point out that not knowing the differences in those three words is only the result of negligence, in the case of native speakers of course, so it would take just a little attention or revision of the English grammar to learn them well.
HY GUYZ LOL I’M SO APPRECIATED THANKS A LOT.
They’re going over there to their house
They’re awesome because their houses are over there in the rich neighborhood.
THERE – a location (has the word “here” in it)
THEY’RE – they are
THEIR – belonging to them
Thank you
I used to mess this up a lot but one time I used the wrong one and my teacher took me to the bathroom and lets just say I’m not heterosexual anymore you know like when people think they got abducted by aliens kinda like that
You have problems, but I hope you can use these three words correctly now
I’ve never really had an issue with all these. Once you know how apostrophes work, life is so much easier. Just one thing though. It’s “you and I” not “me and you”. Thank you
Those words are not homophones at all.
u al r stupid. u no know no gramar. #LOL.
You are too if you weren’t you wouldn’t be on this website.
ROASTED
I totally agree
Yup
im pretty sure he was joking.
heyyy
the fact that you mixed up no and know makes me think that neither do you.
In (LONGNAME)/EATMORCHIKIN’s sentence “u no know no gramar,” I think the first “no” means “don’t” instead of “no” or “know). Just guessing.
Oops. I made a mistake! I should’ve (should have) closed my quotes instead of closing a parentheses that didn’t exist. {“know)}
Let me just point out that you have several spelling AND grammar issues in that comment.
triggered
oh, btw you seem like the real one with poor grammar. Sorry, I do not mean poor, you don’t even seem to know what is grammar
“you don’t even seem to know what is grammar” Well there my dear, you aren’t using proper grammar either, it should be “you don’t even seem to know what grammar is”
Sorry, if you’re going to correct someone, please, make sure that you’re correct yourself.
Must you believe that we don’t know grammar? If you have an account to simply troll on the forums, maybe you should leave. The only reason I have an account is for the daily word. Kindly stop being ignoramus.
He/she obviously used incorrect grammar on purpose just to troll everyone here. Seriously, I can’t believe you all fell for that.
Your use of your when you mean you’re is what makes me doubt your ability to see that you’re using the words incorrectly.
One easy way to remember the difference is a simple sentence:
They’re over there with their friends.
If you can remember that sentence, as written, you should not get them mixed up.
Huh….that is a smart way of remembering how to use those words….
Thanks, your reference is a good one to pass on to my employees.
yeah it would work IF YOU HAD ANY FRIENDS ayyyyyyyyyyy lmao
haha nice
Aint it the truf
I suppose I have always taken knowledge like this for granted because my mother is an English teacher (I’m not perfect by any means). I remember they’re because you can replace it they are, there is here or there, and their is simply the only other options if the other to don’t work. Please don’t correct my grammar. I know it’s not perfect and I understand how other people could be confusing. All grammar is difficult, I read and write Latin and I am in my second year of French. If this issue confuses you it’s okay, don’t listen to the idiots who say it shouldn’t. I have trouble spelling and my math skills are sub-par but we all have struggles.
Gracie, I admire you for leaving a comment, knowing (and admitting) that you are making grammatical and spelling errors. You seem to care how you come across to people and are not afraid to humble yourself to admit it. Some people don’t know and don’t care that they are using the wrong words in all the wrong places and misspelling them to boot. THEY are the ignorant ones. And YOU read and write LATIN and are taking FRENCH! WOW!!!! Baby, keep working on those. You can perfect your English later. God bless you.
ok
I was taught these at school, (back in the old days where schools actually taught spelling and grammar*), and couldn’t understand why so many people have such a problem with them. However, after telling my 15-year-old god-daughter that she could check out the net for advice if she was confused, I found she was more confused by the explanations.
For example “Their is the possessive case of the pronoun they”. Not only did that not help her know which was correct, she gave up reading any further because she didn’t even understand that statement.
I made this up for her and she still uses it:
If you can use here in place of there, such as “over here” or “over there” (although the full sentence may not be quite logical e.g. “go over here”) then use “there”.
If you can replace it with they are and it still makes sense, use “they’re”.
For all others, especially when discussing people, use “their”.
It’s pretty simplistic, and may not cover all cases, but it’s enough to get her through her clerical job.
*Disclaimer: I’m not trashing all teachers, just the few I have actually experienced when visiting schools. Grade Two teacher with list of words to learn written up on the board contained the word “whitch” and the school my god-daughter attended had the word “LIbrary” on the outside of the Library Block. Still not sure if the second letter was a lower case L (spelling error) or an upper case i (grammatical error). Horrifying!
It’s spelled library,so it’s an capital I(i) not a lower case l(L)
Puterpuss said it was spelled Llbrary (lower case L [l] here), or LIbrary (upper case I [i] here, so you cannot say it was library or llbrary. If the word was typed, it could very well be a typo in either case. Anyway, any way you look at it, it’s still wrong.
Well, I did it again. I left off the closing parentheses {“(upper case I [i] here…”}. It should have had “)” after “here.” I gotta watch that punctuation! (Yeah, I know that’s bad English. I’m taking literally license here! LOL)
It seems like I did it again. I left off the closing parentheses {“(upper case I [i] here…”}. It should have had “)” after “here.” I gotta watch that punctuation! (Yeah, I know that’s bad English. I’m taking literally license here! LOL)
Sorry. I didn’t mean to post that twice. I thought it wasn’t posting so I changed it a little to force it to post.
I spell their thier.
Good for you.
Then you spell it incorrectly.
They’re going over there for their daily dish of ice cream. And if you are a Language Arts Teacher and misuse these, you should find another career choice…just saying. I cannot believe how many teachers of various subjects speak poorly, as in ‘me and her’. You always, in polite society, put the other person first! sigh.
They’re looking their hens there
I have this one down. My pet peeve is using your when you mean you’re.
Exactly ! Thank you !
“Your” vs.”You’re” drives me nuts! It is so pervasive, however, that I guess I should make peace with it, but it still grates!
greats*
or its and it’s. The dog is chewing on its bone. If it’s: The dog is chewing on IT’S bone that basically reads: The dog is chewing on it is bone. No. Just no.
Some times i get mixed up with their,there, and they’re
me too
i like pineapples
Learning never ends. I guess
true
Indeed
I learned something new about you today.
hola
English !Dictionary !
Not meant for Hispanics
a little bit of common sense never goes astray…………
Hi, I agree… And to some people common sense isn’t that common
You’re (you are) right there (in that sentence).
I believe Jacksfilms summed it up perfectly here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I776Ibj3iTs
Fizzy! I just wasted half and hour watching Jacksfilms! But thanks for the link. I’ve subscribed now lol
You said and instead of an….it’s pronounced “Half an hour”
easiest thing ever
I don’t get it people always miss use these words and it makes me mad and I as a teacher can’t stand it they are making me want to stop teaching language arts.
Misuse not miss use. You’re a teacher? That’s a scary thought unless you’re one in America than it’s understandable.
You’re a Language Arts Teacher that is bugged by misuse of words, and you got misuse wrong? That. my dear, is a basic…
LOL… ^^ U mean then*
“than it’s understandable?” Don’t you mean “then it’s understandable?
LMAO
There stupid if they cant figure this out
They’re*
you can’t.
spell it
it is their not there and it is can’t
sorry it is they’re
They’re is no need for this type of comment
I sure hope you did that on purpose…if not, your sentence should have started out with, “They’re” instead of “There”.
you are so stupid if you don’t them
that is easy
i know those words
Correction my dear, you meant ‘They’re’ stupid if they can’t figure this out.
GOT YOU. You’re one of them !#$%^&*
I agree with u. I learned the difference in elementary school. Duhhhhh
You ARE joking, correct? Lol if not, the correct word would be “they’re”
They’re…
Ha! They’re …
They are weak academically
There is no cake for their party because they’re being bad and ungrateful
Excellent!! Go to the head of the class!! LOL
Their is NO? There isn’t any Coke for the party… There is NO isn’t proper English
The correct phrase would be “There was not any cake for the party, as the guests were being ungrateful.”
Hi that’s cool I’m cool u know
Hola
Indeed it is not difficult to understand
Interesting…
Good
Oh my. To open this page and see those three little words that I’ve taught (or tried to teach) my students, grades 9 – 12.
I thought it would be so clear and easy, but my students’ vocabularies were such that
I had to first review/teach the concepts of ‘here’ and ‘ there’, ‘their’ with the hint word ‘heir’, and, of course, the oh so elusive ‘they’re’…what’s a contraction? So, we struggled onward and, I’m happy to say, most of the students caught on.
People seem to throw away grammar (and a great deal of other things in that part of their body) when they leave school. It frustrates me when people make it seem like education is just to go through. No, you’re supposed to 1. Gather information which you use, and 2. Exercise various cognitive functions. Like, I see people misusing the word fact. That’s just fact (CORRECT SYNTAX). They’re the stupidest people, FACTS. (INCORRECT SYNTAX).
I don’t know how anyone could or would have a problem with this.
this is awesome
Here in my garage
with my new lamborgini
And my squad in the back
Can i be a member?
Good
I CANNOT stand it when people use their, there and they’re incorrectly.
They’re visiting their beach house on the California coast, because there is always time for a vacation.
Similarly, I HATE problems with your and you’re. Grrr…
people have problems with your and you’re?
why
ikr. it’s pretty easy
Californian* always make sure to equip your grammar nazi helmet when you are in a grammar-related conversation