Grammar HELP: There/ Their - Where/ Were?

Question

I am extremely bad at recognizing which spelling to use of the two words above when writing essays and I'm losing marks so I need help!!!!

To be perfectly honest, I haven't got a clue what people are on about when they talk about singular nouns and pronouns and plurals and past tenses (you get the drift) It's not that I'm unintelligent, but this is just something I can't get over.

In terms of Where/ Were: I believe that Where is referring to location, as in "Where are my books?" Were is the past tense of are, as in "My books were on the table."

In terms of There/ Their: There refers to a concrete place as in 'There is an antique store' and 'Their' indicates possession as in 'Their is my bus ticket'

My Examples - Am I Right? Thanks

'What the characters like to do in there (Referring to concrete event) daily life and their (indicating the possession of memory?) memory about what the characters main dream in life is.

'When these words are used, it is normally in a situation where normal words aren't powerful enough to convery..'

Thank You Everybody

Answer 1

Good job!  You are right on the money and explained them well with good examples.

Answer 2

Their' indicates possession as in 'Their is my bus ticket'

I don't think the above is right. You are right in saying that it indicates possession, but it refers to the possessions of a group (more than one person). Example - they forgot to get their books to school.

The other examples were fine.

Answer 3

All your examples are correct. To choose the correct spelling, it is best to use an association to remind you.

There and where both refer to places and contain another place word 'here'. The association is with 'here'.

Their is about 'they' and 'them'. Either 'they' or 'them' can be used for association.

Answer 4

well ur examples are somewhat right. the only thing is "their" is referring to something some one else posesses.

such as: sheila and tommy have a dog. it is THEIR dog.

Answer 5

Yes, you're right.

How are you mixing up Where and Were? They aren't alike at all. There and their just sound alike....

Answer 6

'What characters like to do in their daily life and their memory about what the character's main dream in life is.'

and

'When these words are used, it is normally in a situation where normal words aren't powerful enough to convey.'

Their indicates possession of any sort. It is their dream, their life, their time, their jacket, their anything. If it belongs to them, it is theirs.

Answer 7

Their is possession but it would mean more 'it was their bucket.'

there is for indicating a place 'there is my bucket' - the there relates to the place not whose it is, the my relates to the possesion of it.

You could also have 'There is their bucket" "There is her bucket" "There is our bucket" "There is the bucket"

You've got where and were all good

It would be 'What the characters like to do in their (reffering to their daily life, indicating possesion of their daily life) daily life and their memory about what the characters main dream in life is.

For 'there' it would be more. 'Don't go over there' 'They wanted to go there' 'There is something moving in the corner' 'There aren't any banana's at the shop' (please excuse my strange examples)

you didn't ask about they're but i'll tell you any way - just they are.

Hope i helped :)

Answer 8

All right, if you don't have a handle on the language we use to describe language (things like singular/plural, noun/verb, agreement and so on) then I'll have to find another way to show you how the words you're asking about relate to each other.

I'll start with here/there/where.  These all have to do with location.  So, "Where are my books?" and "There is an antique store." are both correct.  They mean the same as "My books are in what location?" and "An antique store is at that location."

Except for the similar sound, "their" has nothing to do with "there."  "Their" means "belonging to them".  So, "Their is my bus ticket" is NOT correct.  If it's their bus ticket, then it isn't yours or mine.  "There is my bus ticket." is correct.  It means "My bus ticket is in that location."

I can't figure out how to read your example that starts "What the characters like to do . . ."  I just can't turn it into a sentence.  But, I can guess that there is something that these characters do in their daily lives.  That's "their", as in something the characters do in the daily lives that belong to them.

I think we both understand that grammatical possession isn't exactly the same as real-world possession.  People say things like "my God" and "my country" and "my language".  I'm sure that none of these people believe that they own these things, or that they could keep these things in their pockets.  Still, the lives that other people lead are their lives, and the memories that they have are their memories, just as the deity that they believe in is their God and the country that they live in is their country and the language that they use is their language.

I said that I'd start with here/there/where.  Keep those words grouped together.  "Where are my books?  Ah, here are my books.  No, wait, there are my books."  Ok, that works.

Now, we'll try our/your/their.  "Their is my bus ticket.  Our is my bus ticket.  Your is my bus ticket."  No, that doesn't work.

"There is my bus ticket.  Here is my bus ticket.  Where is my bus ticket?"  Ok, that works.

"The characters like to do this in there daily life.  The characters like to do this in here daily life.  They like to do it in where daily life?"  That doesn't work.

"The characters like to do this in their daily lives.  We like to do it in our daily lives.  Even you like to do it in your daily life."  Ok, that works.

For now, it should help you to keep these two groups of words together.  Remember here/there/where, and remember our/your/their.  The words about location all have "here" inside them.  The words about "possession" by several people all end in R.

One last test:

There is my chair.  Here is my chair.  Where is my chair?

Their is my chair.  Your is my chair.  Our is my chair.

Which group is right?