Here, There, and Everywhere

Here's an easy but goody grammar tip this week (my head was spinning trying to explain compound words last time).

Most of us could probably explain the difference between 'there,' 'their,' and 'they're' when pressed, but I frequently see the spellings switched in emails and even manuscript submissions here at MAKE. A refresher:

'There' refers to a place ("over there is a great old-fashioned hardware store," for example). 'Their' is a possessive, indicating belonging ("their shop was packed to the ceiling beams with old car parts"). 'They're' is a contraction of "they are." Simple as that.

Paul Brians, Extraordinary Grammarian, has a few great tips to keep them straight. 1) 'There' has the word 'here' embedded in it, another name for place. 2) 'Their' starts with the same three letters as 'they' (so don't go switching the 'i' and 'e' around). 3) Whenever you see an apostrophe, remember that it's a contraction of two words (in this case, 'they' and 'are').