# There/Their correct usage escapes me...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-their-correct-usage-escapes-me/315943>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-their-correct-usage-escapes-me/315943 "2005-08-07T02:41:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-their-correct-usage-escapes-me/315943/21 "2005-08-07T13:20:45Z")

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> [@BlakeTyner](#):
>
> I am always amazed at folks who learn English as a second language. Particularly in adulthood, it must be horrible to figure out all our rule exceptions and strange grammar patterns.

I’m not. Those people end up either tending to simpler kinds of sentences or making about as many grammar/usage errors through lack of experience as most Americans do through sheer ignorance and stupidity. It all comes out in the wash.

Mind you, it’s hard to notice unconvoluted grammar in conversation unless you know how to listen for it. It often comes out as efficiency or plain-spokenness rather than giving the feeling that the speaker is semiconsciously avoiding structures even as minimally complex as _this_ sentence. Hang around the math department of a good university to pick up conversations involving Russians, Chinese, or Iranians and you’ll see what I mean.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-their-correct-usage-escapes-me/315943/22 "2005-08-07T15:12:45Z")

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_There_ = “that place,” or “in/at/from/to that place”  
_Their_ = “belonging to them”  
_They’re_ = “they are”

Useful mnemonics are “here” as the antonym to “there,” the fact that “her” is included in “t **he** i **r** ,” and that “are” is incorporated in “they’re.”

There is a specialized use of “there is/are” as meaning “in existence is/are,” as in this very sentence.

Homonyms of this sort are often susceptible to this sort of analysis and mnemonics, if you can come up with ways to simplify how you remember the distinctions.

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