How to teach their, there and they're

Teach their, there and they're by checking their jobs in a sentence. Their shows belonging, there can name a place or introduce something that exists, and they're means they are. Hearing the word will not tell your child which spelling to choose. The surrounding meaning will.

Understand the idea

These words are homophones, which means they sound alike but have different spellings and meanings. Start with sentences your child understands before asking them to remember a definition.

Say, "Let's try they are in this space." If it makes sense, they're is the right choice. "They're laughing" becomes "They are laughing." The apostrophe marks the missing letter in are.

Next ask, "Does something belong to them?" In "their lunch", the lunch belongs to the people we are talking about. Their has no apostrophe. It works like our in "our lunch".

Use there for a place, as in "Put the lunch there." You can point to the place. But that is only one use. "There is a lunchbox on the shelf" introduces something that exists. Teach this use too, so your child does not rely only on pointing.

See it worked through

Belonging to them

their bags

A place

over there

They are

they're ready

One scene, three different jobs

They're putting their boots over there.

At the start, they're means they are. Try the expanded sentence: "They are putting their boots over there." It still makes sense.

In the middle, their tells us whose boots they are. We could say "the children's boots", but their boots avoids repeating the owners.

At the end, there names the place where the boots go. Ask your child to point to a possible place beside the door.

Now compare: There are two boots beside the door. This there introduces the boots. Replacing it with they are would produce "They are are two boots", which does not work.

Ask your child to explain each choice in their own words. They can say "belongs to them" or "means they are" without using a grammatical label.

Try it together

A ten-minute meaning check

Write their, there and they're on separate cards. Explain what each card can do, using a sentence for each. Read these sentences and let your child place a card in each gap.

1. The twins packed ___ bags.
2. ___ waiting beside the gate.
3. Leave the parcels over ___.
4. ___ is a note on the table.
5. _ sharing _ crayons.

Ask your child to explain each choice. Then have them write a fresh sentence using a word they previously mixed up, and check its meaning together.

Check the answer

1. Their bags. The bags belong to the twins.
2. They're waiting. We can expand it to "They are waiting".
3. Over there. This tells us where to leave the parcels.
4. There is a note. This introduces something that exists. It does not mean they are and does not show ownership.
5. They're sharing their crayons. The first gap means they are. The second tells us whose crayons they share.

Check their understanding

Write "The children said their ready." Ask, "Does anything belong to the children in this part of the sentence?" Here, ready describes the children; it does not name something belonging to them. Now try they are ready. The meaning works, so the repair is "The children said they're ready."

If your child chooses correctly only when all three cards are visible, keep the cards during practice. Then remove them for one sentence. Correct choice and a clear reason are more useful than racing through a long worksheet.

Make it easier or harder

Make it easier by contrasting their bag with over there. Add they're after your child can explain those two meanings. Say every sentence aloud so decoding does not take all their attention.

Make it harder with a short paragraph containing all three words. Ask your child to edit the paragraph, then write their own example of there is or there are. This checks the use that a place-only memory aid misses.

Teaching notes

ABC Education's lesson on their, there and they're explains the contraction, possessive form and different uses of there. The sentences and home activity here are original and practise choosing by meaning.

Spelling, grammar and punctuation practice

Practise spelling, grammar and punctuation in context, then talk through the answers together.

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