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Confused Words

By georgelthomas on 3 Jul 2017 • ( 14 )

Occasionally it can be difficult to choose the correct word, and this can be compounded by the fact that so many words can look or sound the same and yet mean entirely different things.
Here’s a list of some of those words:

There, Their, They’re
There: is used when talking about a place, for example, the dog is over ‘there‘.
Their: is used when you’re speaking about possession, for instance, ‘their‘ cat was stuck in a tree.
They’re: is a contraction of ‘they are’. For example, ‘they’re‘ telling a joke.

Its, It’s
Its: is the possessive, used when speaking about something belonging to someone or something, for example, the parrot sat on ‘its‘ perch.
It’s: is the contracted form of it is. For example, ‘it’s‘ going to be a sunny day.

Your, You’re
Your: is what you would use if you are talking about something belonging to someone, for example, is this ‘your‘ jacket?
You’re: is the contraction of you are, for instance, ‘you’re‘ being unreasonable.

Whose, Who’s
Whose: is the possessive, meaning something belongs to someone for example, ‘whose‘ shoe is this?
Who’s: is the contracted form of who is, for instance, ‘who’s‘ going to the party later?

Here, Hear
Here: is used when you are speaking about a place, for example, ‘here‘ is your sandwich.
Hear: is when you’re talking about sound, for instance, do you ‘hear‘ what I hear?

Where, Were, We’re
Where: is what you’d use if you’re speaking of a place, for example, ‘Where‘ is my coffee?
Were: is used when conveying where you have been, for instance, we ‘were‘ over there.
We’re: is the contracted form of we are, for example, ‘we‘re‘ going to be late.

Then, Than
Then: is used when speaking about time that has passed, for instance, we were younger ‘then‘.
Than: is used when comparing things, for instance, I’m tougher ‘than‘ you.

I know that these are just some basic examples but you never know, they may be useful to somebody.

As always, thank you very much for reading!

George