Their, They’re, or There?

Judy Vorfeld

THEIR: Possessive of “they“
Examples
Their boat needs a coat of paint.
Their web­site rocks.
Their home is beautiful.

THEY’RE: Contraction of the words “they” and “are” (They+Are)
Examples
They’re doing a great job.
They’re hop­ing for many pur­chases.
They’re just around the corner.

THERE: at that place or in that place
Examples
Now there is a stun­ning Web site.
Let’s not go there.
While you’re there, take a look at the apple fritters.

ALL THREE IN ONE SENTENCE
Their plans changed, and they’re not plan­ning on fly­ing there.

So there. (Informal phrase used to express tri­umph, defi­ance, deri­sion, final­ity … in this case, it’s final­ity. Except that the English lan­guage keeps changing.)