Grammar
Grammar and spelling for the day:
- there: "in or at that place", farther away than HERE; referring to the existence of.
- their: "pertaining to or belonging TO them"; a possessive pronoun.
- they're: A contraction made up of THEY + ARE, with the apostrophe in place of the A.
Questions to ask yourself when deciding which word to use:
1. Will the sentence make sense if I replace the word with they are?
2. Do the words that come immediately after the 'there' word refer to something that belongs to somebody? (their guns, their ammo, their fingers)
3. Could you replace the 'there' word with a pointing gesture? Is there a location mentioned?
A. I hope ______________ going to the range today.
B. Bob and George both misplaced ___________________ ammo cans today.
C. I saw the bullet hit __________, high right of the bullseye.
D. ______________ are fifty stars on our flag.
In Example A, there is no indication that anybody owns something, so their cannot be used. There is no location mentioned or inferred, so there is not the correct word. Putting they are in the space sounds right, so they're is the correct answer.
In Example B, they are does not sound right, so they're is not the answer. There is no location mentioned or inferred, so there is not the answer. The words ammo cans come immediately after the missing word, and the cans belonged to Bob and George, at least before they lost them, so the possessive pronoun their is the correct answer.
In Example C, there is a place mentioned - 'high right of the bullseye' - and if I used a pointing gesture as I read the sentence, my listener would know I meant there.
In Example D, notice that the linking verb are is right after the missing word. That means we cannot use the contraction they're, because that would make the sentence read They are are, which doesn't make sense. The linking verb is important for another reason. It indicates that the sentence is talking about the existence of something, which is one of the uses for there. In fact, the presence of a linking verb after the word in question will always point to there. (There is hope. There are problems. There was a fire. There were two accidents. There has been trouble. etc)
*Disclaimer... as I read more and more posts I see common mistakes, I'm just being a smartass. Feel free to dismiss this thread.
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Originally Posted by Mtn.man
