There, Their, and They’re

I thought I’d start off my “new and improved” topical blog about certain word usage – specifically, the correct manner in which to use there, their, and they’re.

In a nutshell:

“There” is a location.

“We went [to the store] there.”

“Their” is possessive, that means it has to do with belonging to someone; in this case, several someones.

“We went to their [it belongs to them] store.”

“They’re” is a contraction; that means the apostrophe goes in between what could also be two words: “they” and “are”.  Formally, you’d use “they are” but, informally, you’d say “they’re”.

“They’re going to the store.”

Simple, yes? 

And here’s a tip: always, always in your writing use proper English and spelling and grammar.  To do otherwise makes you seem uneducated or ignorant and why, if you can’t write properly, would anyone take your information seriously?