Their, There, They're
Their shows possession (their car is on fire), there is a direction (there is the burning car), and they're is short for "they are" (they're driving into the lake).
Their is a possessive pronoun, so if Madonna and Cher own a car, it's their car. If Cher owns it by herself, it's hers. Back off, Madonna. Their is co-owned by the "e" and "i," and it breaks the "i" before "e" rule. Sometimes their is used instead of singular his or her, as in "Who blew their nose so loudly?" But that can be awkward.Their in the wild:
There, there, don't be discouraged. "Here" and there are directions -- there is "here" with a "t" because you have to go a little farther to get from here to there. "Here" and there can never be the subjects of a sentence, by the way. In the sentence, "There is Cher's car," there points to the subject, which is "car." Here are some there's from the world:
They're always means "they are," so if you can replace they're with "they are" then you've spelled it correctly. Woohoo! The apostrophe stands in for the missing "a." Replace "they are" for they're in these examples and see that it works!
If you get them mixed up, do a quick check: in your head, replace there with "here"; replace their with "our"; and they're with "they are." If it all makes sense, you got them right! (Description from Vocabulary.com) |