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?