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They're hiding in your sentences.
Their spellings and meanings are all different.
There is no escape!
That's right: they're, their, and there are all...homophones!
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Don't panic though, there's no need to worry.
With a few simple rules and some examples, you can learn when and how to correctly use
they're, their, and there.
Let's start with they're because it's the easiest one to keep straight.
'They're' is a contraction - see the apostrophe?
A contraction is a word that is made by two words being smashed together, with an apostrophe
to show where the missing letters would go.
They're is a contraction of 'they are.'
If it would make sense to replace 'they're' in your sentence with 'they are,' you should
use t-h-e-y apostrophe r-e.
Let's look at the sentence, "They're going to the circus tomorrow."
Since it would make sense to say, "They are going to the circus tomorrow," 'they're' is
the correct word to use.
Let's look at another sentence.
"I want to go they're, too!"
Would it make sense to say, "I want to go they are, too!"?
No!
So we have to use the spelling t-h-e-r-e.
There spelled t-h-e-r-e is a word talking about a place or position.
If you look, you can see that it has the word 'here' in it!
Sometimes you can use the word 'here' to see if you chose the right spelling of 'there.'
Let's look at a sentence.
"The squirrel is over there."
The sentence "The squirrel is over here" would also make sense!
What about the sentence, "There dog can catch a ball."
No!
"Here dog can catch a ball" does not make any sense at all!
We need to use the third type of their, t-h-e-i-r.
Their spelled t-h-e-i-r is used to show possession, or that something belongs to someone.
You can test if 'their' will work in a sentence by substituting 'his' or 'her.'
Let's look at the sentence, "Their house is big."
"His house is big," or "her house is big," would also make sense.
Next let's look at the sentence, "Their all afraid of ghosts."
Would the sentence, "Her all afraid of ghosts" make sense?
No!
For that sentence we need to use they're spelled t-h-e-y apostrophe r-e, because "They are
all afraid of ghosts" would work.
Now it's time for you to test yourself and see if you can figure out which form of the
word 'there' belongs in each of these sentences.
I hope you have a better understanding now of when to use the words they're, there, and
their.
Goodbye till next time!