While a many of you already know that these words are different -- it's not a lot of help to have that pointed out without a trick to assist you in using them correctly. That's where the Writers and Polishers come in... There -- is the opposite of 'here.' Conveniently, it also contains the word 'here.' So, if you mean the opposite of 'here,' slap a T on the front, and you're all good. They're -- is a contraction (mash-up) of 'they are.' The apostrophe takes the place of the space and the A. If you mean to give information about a group of two or more people that doesn't include you, this is the one you want. |
But, to be thorough:
Their -- shows possession. If something (an object, an idea...whatever) is owned or held by a group of two or more people that doesn't include you, describe it as theirs. The test here would be if you were talking about a group that DID include you, could you replace 'their' in the sentence with 'our' and it would still make sense? If so, 'their' is the choice you want.
Example:
Marsha, Jan and Cindy usually sided with their mom when there was a disagreement with the men in the house.
If you imagine for a minute that you are Cindy, the sentence would make sense reading, "Marsha, Jan and I usually sided with our mom when there was...."
This is a slightly more complicated test, but not really difficult once you make a habit of stopping to check that you've chosen the correct homophone (words that sound the same) when writing there/their/they're.