--- title: Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends», a lesson of the language course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Some English words sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: they're (they are), their (bel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / Spelling traps: their, there, they're… # Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends Lesson 12 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/0/) — Some English words sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: they're (they are), their (belonging to them) and there (that place): "They're going to their house over there." - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/1/) — The swap test catches most traps: if you can say "they are", write they're; if you can say "you are", write you're; if you can say "it is" or "it has", write it's; otherwise it is their, your or its. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/2/) — Little helpers live inside big words: definitely has "finite" in the middle (de-finite-ly), and there's "a rat" in sep-a-rat-e; "too" has one o too many, because it means extra. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/3/) — Some famous rules are weak: "i before e except after c" fails for science, weird, their, height and eight, so treat it as a hint, not a law. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/5/) — They're means they are; their means belonging to them; there means in that place, or is used in "there is". - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/6/) — You're means you are; your means belonging to you. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/7/) — It's means it is or it has; its means belonging to it and, like his and hers, has no apostrophe. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/8/) — Two is the number 2; too means also or very; to goes before a verb or shows direction. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/9/) — Lose (said with a z sound) means to not have something any more; loose means not tight. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/10/) — "Would have" is the correct written form, not "would of". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/11/) — Definitely comes from "finite", meaning having an end: de-finite-ly. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/12/) — "I before e except after c" works for receive and believe, but science, weird, their, height, eight, seize and ancient break it; some UK teaching guides advise against teaching it as a rule. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/13/) — Text speak shortens words with letters and numbers that sound like them: c (see), u (you), l8r (later), m8 (mate). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/14/) — Weather is rain, sun and wind; whether means if, as in "I don't know whether to go". - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/15/) — The correct spelling is separate; "there's a rat in separate" is a popular trick. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/16/) — A typo is a typing mistake; a mistake doesn't always mean someone doesn't know the rule. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/12-spelling-traps-their-there-theyre/17/) — "Grammar police" is a jokey name for people who correct others' spelling; correcting people can feel rude, so do it kindly or not at all. - ← previous: [Grammar puzzles, part one](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/) - next →: [Silent letters and the mystery of -ough](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/13-silent-letters-and-the-mystery-of-ough/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/)