This should be a popular one as it’s a very common set of mix-ups (and I know it’s not a pair, but a trio: think of it as a Bank Holiday Bonus)
There – regarding a place. “Have you been to Wales? Yes, I’ve been there.”
Their – possessive of “they” – belonging to them “Don’t take their wellies without asking!”
They’re – less formal, abbreviated form of “they are” “Are Linda and Freddie going to be at the party? Yes, they’re going to the party!”
So, if some people are visiting a female relation who lives on the other side of the valley: “They’re visiting their aunt, who lives over there”.
That’s it, really!
For why we don’t add an apostrophe to “theirs”, see my article on the apostrophe.
For more troublesome pairs, have a look at the category cloud to your lower right, or click here!
Arthur
June 3, 2011 at 10:41 am
It’s funny, this. It’s one of the things my English girlfriend does wrong quite a lot (esp. in SMS) and then blames it on ‘typing fast’. Rubbish, I say – you can also type the correct word fast, if you thought about it a sec. Even I don’t make those mistakes, and English isn’t even my first language!🙂
Liz at Libro
June 3, 2011 at 10:44 am
Thanks for your comment, Arthur. It is an easy one to miss, and I see it lots, even among people I’d expect to know the rule …
Actually, thinking about it, I seem to only see it with English native speakers; I work a lot with ESOL speakers and that’s not one they tend to make. They probably don’t seem so similar and thus interchangeable if you’ve had to learn English as a second language?
lindyb
November 17, 2014 at 9:23 am
Please could you add something about using “theirs” as a possessive pronoun? The i Paper, which last week used “their” for “Fred and Tom were going their” (aaaaargh!) today had “as much for your benefit as for their’s” (aaaargh again!)
Liz Dexter
November 17, 2014 at 9:37 am
Oh dear! I have covered this in my post on apostrophes, but I’ll add a link to that in this post, too!