How To Use The Trio: Their, There & They're

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The trio of their, there , and they’re can confuse writers at all levels. The confusion stemming from these words is that they are homophones, meaning they have the same pronunciation but differ in meaning and derivation. Even though they sound the same, writing them down correctly is a different story! If you find yourself coming up blank when trying to determine which one to use, take a hint from the spelling of each: Their has the word heir in it, which can remind you that the term indicates possession. 

There has the word here in it. There is your choice for talking about places, whether figurative or literal. 

They’re has an apostrophe, which tells you that it’s the product of two words: they & are . If you can substitute they are into your sentence and retain the meaning, then they’re is the correct word to use. 

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