Transcript

I'm going to talk about the difference between there, their, and they're. Yes, I said 3 separate words. In fact, one of my favorite grammar jokes is, "How do you console a grammarian? There, their, they're." So, let's talk about the difference between these 3 words that sound so similar but mean different things. We have "their," spelled t-h-e-i-r, and it indicates possession.

Then there's "there," t-h-e-r-e which indicates location and there's, "they're," t-h-e-y-'apostrophe-r-e which is a contraction of the two words "they" and "are." So, let's look at how the 3 different forms of their function in a sentence. I'll give you an example. There's an amazing bakery in SoHo in New York that sells a treat called, Cronuts, they're to die for.

So, I might say, "Their Cronuts are amazing." In this case we use t-h-e-i-r because we're indicating possession. The Cronuts belong to this bakery. I might tell you , "It's over there, on Spring Street." Well, in this case I use the word t-h-e-r-e because I'm indicating the location of the bakery. And lastly, I might say, "They're the best treat ever." Well, this time I'm using a contraction meaning they are the best treat of all time. So, I hope that this clears up the difference between there, their and they're.