They’re Looking For Their Wallets Over There.
Here’s another batch of homonyms: they’re, their, and there. With three of them to choose from, it’s easy to grab hold of the wrong one. So first, let’s take a look at what each of them means.
They’re – This is a
contraction, and it always means ‘They are’ (or occasionally, ‘They
were’). If you have a sentence with ‘they’re’ in it and substituting ‘they are’
makes the sentence into garbage, it isn’t the right word for that sentence.
Their – This word means
‘belongs to them’.
There – This word
indicates a location that is not here; an area that is some distance away.
Which of the
following sentences is correct?
1. 1. They’re
looking for a lost dog.
2. 2. Their
looking for a lost dog.
3. 3. There
looking for a lost dog.
Answer: #1 is
correct, because they are looking for a lost dog. In #2, if you try to
substitute ‘belongs to them’ looking for a lost dog, it doesn’t really make
sense. It is possible the lost dog belongs to the searching party, but we don’t
know that for sure. And in #3, trying to substitute ‘an area that is some
distance away’ looking for a lost dog also doesn’t make any sense. How can an
inanimate area look for anything?
Which of the
following sentences is correct?
1. 1. They’re
lost dog came home.
2. 2. Their
lost dog came home.
3. 3. There
lost dog came home.
Answer: #2 is
correct, because the lost dog ‘belongs to them’. In #1, ‘they are’ lost dog
came home makes no sense. And in #3, ‘an area some distance away’ lost dog came
home also makes no sense. How can a distant area describe a lost dog?
Which of the
following sentences is correct?
1. 1. I
found my wallet over there.
2. 2. I
found my wallet over their.
3. 3. I
found my wallet over they’re.
Answer: #1 is
correct because the wallet was found in a different location. #2 makes no
sense, because the wallet doesn’t belong to ‘them’, it belongs to the speaker.
#3 also makes no sense, because it is saying, I found my wallet over ‘they
are’.
Trying to remember
the meanings of these words will help you figure out which one to use where. To
me, ‘they’re’ is the easiest one to remember, because it always means
‘they are’.
‘There’ has the
word ‘here’ within it, and they are both locations or areas. But while ‘here’
means ‘where I am’, ‘there’ means ‘a spot at some distance’.
Which leaves the
word ‘their’, and I don’t have any little tricks for remembering what it means.
But if you need to, look it up in a dictionary when you come across it. I don’t
think it will take you long to memorize what it means.
