There vs There’s
“There’s” is a contraction, meaning “there is” or “there has.”
Example 1: There’s got to be a way to reschedule the event. = There has got to be a way to reschedule the event.
Example 2: There’s only five tickets remaining so get them now! = There is only five tickets remaining so get them now!
Their vs Theirs
“Their” is possessive adjective that comes before the noun in a sentence. Example: Their car is at the next street.
“Theirs” is a possessive pronoun that stands in for a noun that is understood by context. Example: The car at the next street is theirs.
Their + noun (ex: their car)
Theirs (The car is theirs)
“Theirs” does not serve as a plural form in this case, unless the noun in the sentence is plural itself. Rather, imagine the “s” serves as the noun in the sentence. Example: The car is their car = The car is theirs. In this case the “s” took the place of the noun car at the end of the sentence. For a plural noun, an example is: These cars are their cars = These cars are theirs.
Quik Tip: Remember the Difference
There has the word here in it, which can help you remember that it’s based on locations, figurative and literal.
Their has the word heir in it. Heir meaning someone who would inherit something. This is a good reminder that their is used to show possession or ownership of something.
They’re has that apostrophe representing it’s use as a contraction. Use when you can replace the sentence with they are and it still makes sense.
Quik Tip: When in Doubt
“There” is the hardest to know when to use since there’s so many use cases. When in doubt, rotate from they’re → their → there and see which one fits in the sentence.
If the sentence makes sense with “they are”, use “they’re.”
If not, try “their.” If the use case is to talk about ownership/possession of something, use “their”. If both those don’t work, then you know “there” is the correct usage.
