A proper language in both writing and verbal became important nowadays. Because our language skills are what make up our image next to our appearance and body language.
In such regards, one of the most commonly used words in both our writing and verbal responses are there and their.
Though both appear to be similar they have profound differences in real. This property of these two words with similar pronunciation and different meaning is what we call as “Homophones”.
Homophones are confusing to hear but, it is one of the important vocabulary portions one needs to understand to use the English language more elegantly.
There vs Their
The main difference between There and there is that, “there” is used to indicate a place in our language whereas “their” is used to imply the claim of a subject by another subject(mostly plural).
Comparison Table Between There and Their (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | There | Their |
|---|---|---|
| Grammatical nomenclature | Adverb or Adjective | Possessive pronoun |
| Grammar number | Mostly singular | Mostly plural except, when the subject’s identity or gender is unknown. |
| Grammatical usage | Used to point a place that is already known. | Used to indicate the ownership of an object by a subject. |
| Pronoun usage | Used to introduce clause or sentence | Used to introduce a subject who owns the object. |
| Examples | My friend will be there soon. | It is their dog. |
What is the Meaning of There?
“There”, is an adverb with a meaning pointing towards a place. It can also be used in some instances as a pronoun for introducing a clause or sentence. It is most of the time used primly to stop the unnecessary repetitions of the mentioning noun.
“There”, when used as a pronoun is a little bit hard to understand.“There” is used often to start a sentence with ease and to define an already existing or happened thing.
Informal speech patterns can also employ, “There” as an important part of their structure for conveying the meaning of the sentence for which it is used.
Some examples of usage of “There” are,
- I love Spain. I go there (to Spain) every year.
In the above example, here, the word “there” is used to indicate Spain when the preceding sentence which is used, already defined the nature of Spain. This usage aids in preventing an unnecessary repetition of a name in the sentences, that will otherwise, be annoying.
- Don’t go down there, John. (It is assumed that John knows where there is).
For this example, the word “their’” is used to imply a place to a subject, which the person already knows. This type of usage will be useful especially when the place of interest in the scene cannot be named easily but can be pointed to convey the meaning.
- Jack paused there to let him reply. (referring to a moment in time in the scene)
To convey the meaning that Jack stopped talking at a pointed instance of time during a conversation to someone, for the other person to reply. “There” can be used like this to point a time also.
- There is no way for a setback. (replacing a noun)
“There” is used to as replacing noun to start a sentence, to introduce a clause. This makes the expressed meaning easy to understand
What is the Meaning of Their?
“Their” is a possessive pronoun of the subject. It is most often used to indicate the ownership or claim of a person over a subject.
It means, when there is a need of explaining, the ownership of an object to more than one person, it is wise to use “their” in the sentence which will make the sentence look simple and easily understandable.
In most of the instances, “their” is used to indicate the ownership of plural subject, but with some exceptions especially when the subject’s identity or gender is a mystery.
Some examples of usage of “Their” are,
- They left their wallet at home.
In this example “their” is used to claim the ownership of the wallet to the persons who are in the scene, who left that at home. The persons implied here are plural which is shown by the noun(they).
- Someone left their backpack on the table.
Here, the usage of “their” is made in such a way that the ownership of the object on the table is unknown, but to point the object and to express the ownership of the object, the word “their” is used.
- Someone parked their bicycle in a towing zone.
Someone parked his or her bicycle in a towing zone.
Consider the above two-sentence, if the person’s gender is unknown we can use both of the above-mentioned sentences. But using “their” makes the sentence sounds more pleasant rather than his or her and is easy to use in verbal as well as in written language.
Main Differences Between There and Their
- ”There” is an adjective or adverb, noun, pronoun, adjective, or interjection, in grammar. “Their” is a possessive pronoun.
- “There” can be used to indicate a place, time, a matter, point in a process. “Their” can be used to imply the ownership of an object by a person.
- “There” is used to indicate a singular noun. “Their” is used to point the plural noun almost always, except when the gender and identity of the owner is unknown.
- “There” is used to indicate the things which are already described and to prevent the unnecessary repetition of those names of the subject. “Their” is used to indicate the ownership of an object which may or may not be already described in the conversation.
- “There” can sometimes be used in the place of a noun. “Their” will always be used before a noun, and not be used without another noun.
Conclusion
Even though these words sound similar, when we study them in detail they reveal bidirectional differences in them. To be concise, for defining the place, time or particular matter of interest, “there” is used.
References
- https://www.lexico.com/definition/there
- https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/their