There, Their, or They're? (Homophones)

"There," "their," and "they're" are easy to confuse because they sound identical. They are homophones.

A homophone* is a word that has the same sound as another word but has a different meaning. Homophones may or may not have the same spelling. 

 

There

"There" is like "here" because it represents a place. ("There" and "here" are adverbs of place.)

"There" has two uses:

(1) It means a specific place: She is there.

(2) It means that something exists: There are two apples.

Their

"Their" is for possession. It is like "my," "your," "his," "her," "its," and "our." These are called possessive determiners ("possessive adjectives" in traditional grammar).

Top Tip

Use the word "our" instead of "their." If the sentence still makes sense, then "their" is correct. This trick works because "our" and "their" are both possessive determiners used for plurals.

Can you show the guests to their cabins?

(Do the "our" test: "Can you show the guests to our cabins?"

This sounds okay. Therefore, "their" is correct.)

They're

"They're" is a contraction of "they are."

Example sentences with "they're": They're not leaving on Saturday now. 

(Do the expansion test: "They are not leaving on Saturday now.")

Top Tip

Only use "they're" if you can substitute it with "they are."

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