Waiting

 

Yes, all three words sound the same, and that’s frustrating, but meat and meet are homonyms as well, and most of us don’t worry about meating friends for meetloaf. With a little practice, you’ll find yourself sailing – not sale-ing – through the confusion of There, Their and They’re.

 

Let’s start with the easiest one first: They’re. This is an abbreviation for They Are, and the apostrophe is placed to tell us that we eliminated a letter or two (in this case, the A of Are).

 

So the ONLY time you will use They’re is when you are effectively saying They Are:

 

They’re (They are) going to the store.

 

I wonder when they’re (they are) arriving?

 

Now let’s look at Their:

 

Their is a possessive pronoun along the lines of My, Your, His, Her, or Our; it is used in front of a noun – a person, place, or thing – to tell us that the object in question belongs to a particular set of people:

 

Where is their house?

 

The easiest way to figure out whether or not you should be using Their in the sentence is to replace it with His or Her and see if it still makes sense:

 

Where is their (his/her) house?

 

What is their (his/her) opinion on the matter?

 

With this in mind, look at these misuses of Their and see how replacing His or Her makes the error more obvious:

 

Their (His/Her) are six cats in the kitchen. (There are six cats in the kitchen.)

 

The book is on the table over their (his/her). (The book is on the table over there.)

 

Their (His/Her) going to be late for dinner. (They’re – They are – going to be late for dinner.)

 

Their and They’re have pretty specific, limited uses, so basically, everything else uses the word There.

 

You don’t need to worry that There is sometimes a demonstrative adverb, signifying place (He’s over there), other times a controversially defined pronoun (There are a lot of problems with this paper), other times something else.

 

There wears a lot of hats, which is why people misuse it so much.

 

If you speak Spanish, you are no doubt familiar with the term Hay, as in Hay seis gatos en la cocina), or in French, Il y a – (Il y a six chats dans la cuisine) – both terms translate into There is or There are in English – There are six cats in the kitchen.

 

Also, if you can answer the question Where? You’re probably looking at the word there:

 

I see him over where?

 

I see him over there.

 

Put the book where?

 

Put the book there.

 

Want to practice?

 

1)      There/Their/They’re going to be late if they don’t get here soon.

 

2)      I don’t understand there/their/they’re negative attitude.

 

3)      There/Their/They’re are too many cats in this kitchen.

 

4)      Will you be There/Their/They’re by 3 p.m.?

 

5)      There/Their/They’re books are on the coffee table.

 

6)      There/Their/They’re always leaving there/their/they’re books over there/their/they’re on the bathroom floor.

 

Answers:

 

1)      They’re (They are) going to be late if they don’t get here soon.

 

2)      I don’t understand their (his/her) negative attitude.

 

3)      There are too many cats in the kitchen. (Neither They are or His/Her makes sense)

 

4)      Will you be there (where?) by 3 p.m.?

 

5)      Their (His/Her) books are on the coffee table.

 

6)      They’re (They are) always leaving their (his/her) books over there (where?) on the bathroom floor.

 

Still have questions? Contact the Grammar Goddess directly through the Steve Henderson Fine Art website by hitting the hyperlink at the beginning of this sentence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t know when to use him and me or he and I, don’t feel bad. This problem is so common that I literally wrote a book around it,Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say him and me or he and I?”

 

The answer is fairly straightforward, so let’s get started:

 

Let’s say you’re heading to the movies with Bob and you’re not sure how to phrase this: do you say, “Me and him went to the movies,” or “He and I went to the movies,” or “Him and I went to the movies,” or “He and me went to the movies”?

 

Start by temporarily dropping off the He or Him, and see what you have left.

 

Would you say, “I went to the movies,” or “Me went to the movies”?

 

 

You’re right: “I went to the movies.” Remember the “I.”

 

Now, leave the “I” for a minute and look at He/Him. Would you say,  “He went to the movies,” or “Him went to the movies”?

 

Yes: “He went to the movies.”

 

So, if both you and Bob go to the movies, you will say, “He and I went to the movies.”

 

(Yes, it is also correct to say, “I and he went to the movies,” but this sounds stilted and awkward. It is not wrong, however.)

 

Before we look at another sentence, this is a good time to mention that Steve's work is available as affordable prints, cards, phone cases, pillows, duvet covers, tote bags and more. Check out our Prints, Gifts, and Cards section. You can also shop directly from this site at the end of this article.

 

Okay, let’s look at another sentence:

 

Do you say, “This gift basket is for her and me,” or “This gift basket is for she and I,” or “This gift basket is for she and me,” or “This gift basket is for her and I”?

 

 

We’ll use the same technique of temporarily getting rid of one of the two people and focusing on the other. Let’s concentrate on I/me:

 

Do you say, “This gift basket is for I,” or “This gift basket is for me”?

 

Yes, it’s for me.

 

And do I share this basket with her or she? In other words, is it, “This gift basket is for her” or “This gift basket is for she”?

 

Yes, “This gift basket is for her.”

 

 

Putting it all together, you'll then say, “This gift basket is for me and her,” or “This gift basket is for her and me,” the latter which sounds a bit smoother to my ears.

 

That’s it. There aren't many magical formulas out there, but this one is as close as it gets. Whenever you’re faced with two or more people in the sentence and you don’t know whether to use he/she/they/we/I or him/her/them/us/me, figure out what sounds right, one person at a time, then put the whole thing together at the end.

 

 

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