They’re, their and there – Confusing words

These 3 words are often mistaken, which can be a bit of a problem as the have very different meanings.

• They’re is actually two words – they and are.
  The apostrophe shows us that the words have been merged into one word and the letter ‘a’ (from the word are) has been removed.
  e.g. Where are the children? They’re late today.
• Their is a possessive word that shows ownership of something.
  e.g. Their school isn’t as big as ours.
• There is a word with many uses, indicating a place or position.
  e.g. Our new school is over there.
  There is a big hall in my school.In these examples the word there takes two different meanings.