They’re using their words wrong over there

Common linguistic errors that make you look stupid

Photo by Deleece Cook on Unsplash

So many people make mistakes when using homophones that it’s worth writing an article about.

Homophones are words which sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings.

Every time I join a WhatsApp group I see examples of people mixing up their homophones. Social media is one thing, but when you start seeing the same mistakes on printed material, including newspapers and websites, things have gone too far.

The first three homophones which plague written text are there, they’re and their.

It’s very simple.

There refers to location:

There it is.

There you go.

There aren’t any left.

There are three guitars over there.

Their describes possession and ownership (a possessive pronoun):

Let’s go to their house.

It’s not mine, it’s theirs.

Their can also be used in titles:

Let’s visit their Royal Highnesses.

Finally, they’re is the abbreviated form of they are: