Clachan Publishing

What’s the difference between their, there, and they’re?

Everybody probably knows this already. But mistakes can be made through carelessness or simply as typos. It is worth being reminded about.

Their

Their is the third person plural possessive adjective, used to describe something as belong to them. Their is nearly always followed by a noun.

1. Where is their house?
2. This is their place and this is ours.
3. Their being away for the week means I will feed their dog.

There

There has several different uses.

1. Adverb that means the opposite of "here"

She’s over there.

2. Pronoun that introduces a noun or clause.

There is something strange going on.

3. Adjective that emphasizes which person.

People there are very angry.

Those there look good.

4. Noun that means "that place."

From there, we sailed to Cobh.

They’re

They’re is the contraction of "they are" and is often followed by the present participle (verb form ending in -ing).

They’re leaving tomorrow.

Is that what they’re doing now?

It's and Its.

 Don’t mix these up!!

IT'S – the apostrophe is used here to indicate a contracted form. It's used as a shortened form of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’.

 For example

1. It's (it is) a long way to Tipperary.
2. It’s (it is) great to see you!
3. It’s (it has) been a long time!
4. It's (it has) been ready for weeks!

 However, we can see the difference between the two in the following example:

• It’s (it is) annoying when it’s (it is) not in its right place.

 When not to use the apostrophe?

ITS – this form indicates a possessive in the sense that something belongs to the word which follows. So the ‘its’ on ‘its right place’ above indicates that the place ‘belongs’ to it.

 For example

1. The doll had lost its arms and legs.
2. The food had lost all of its flavour.
3. Kenya is famous for its wildlife.

Spot the errors here

1. There is no way its going to be as good as its sequal.
2. I find its very difficult.
3. Its lost it’s appeal.
4. Its similar to words like ‘his’ and ‘hers’.

 Think about the meaning of this last example.

• Its similar to words like ‘his’ and ‘hers’.
  

Would you ever see:

1. Its nearly as nice as her’s.
2. Hi’s books are missing?

 So why should we ever write:

• It’s lost it’s appeal?