Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and this is Part III of a series explaining they’re, there, and their. We’ve already talked about the two tricky ones, “they are” with an apostrophe” and “t-h-e-i-r” as a possessive. Now we get a nice break with “there,” t-h-e-r-e. This word is not possessive, nor is it short for “they are.” If you can replace “there” with “they are” or “belonging to them,” you should not use “t-h-e-r-e.” This word is generally an adverb or a pronoun and is used to introduce something or describe location. For example: “Where’s the gas station? Over there.” Or, if you’re having an especially bad day: “there’s a spider in the bathtub!”
And that concludes our three-part “there” series. If you’re still confused about the other “theirs,” check the episode backlog for parts I and II.
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