Their, There, They’re

Their are writing problems I’d like to talk about, weather your a seasoned writer or not. There problems that can take on a life of they’re own if left unchecked. Its like writing has it’s own weird rules, huh?

Are you pulling your hair out and gnashing your teeth over those sentences? Now you know how I feel when I read items with these errors.

Growing up in a small school, I had the same English and journalism teacher from eighth grade through my freshman composition courses, and he was a grammar drill sergeant, pounding correct usage of homophones into us every day.

���OKAY, RECRUITS! The words ‘their,’ ‘your,’ and ‘its’ are possessive adjectives! ‘They’re’ is actually a contraction for ‘they are,’ IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW! ‘You’re’ is ‘you are’ in contraction form! ‘Its��� denotes the thing belongs to ‘it,’ but ‘it’s’ stands for ‘it is,’ YOU GRAMMAR FLUNKIES! Don�����t even get me started on ‘weather’ and ‘whether!’ NOW DROP AND WRITE ME TWENTY SENTENCES WITH ‘EM!”

It didn’t go down in that exact manner, but there (not their) were days when I felt like I was in grammar boot camp.

Now, I credit that teacher and his training for my grasp of these and other grammar rules. Those drills prepared me for my work now, but they also ruined me when I see these words used in the wrong way. I have to bite my tongue and remove my fingers from the ���keyboard trigger” all the time. Once I get a grip on myself, I realize not everyone had a teacher like I did.

Now, turn up you’re music and cue up ���Their She Goes” or “I Saw Her Standing They’re.”

Or maybe not.