A guest post by Katherine Ploeger.
The homonyms of there/their/they’re (covered in a previous post) have their plurals, which also cause problems for writers, specifically there’s and theirs.
THERE’S
There’s is the contraction for there is (even my grammar checker flagged the second is in this sentence). The apostrophe is the clue that this word is a contraction because the apostrophe replaces the i in is.
There’s frequently is used in speech as a shortcut to expression, but when used in writing, it can be misused because the writer does not realize the word is a contraction with a singular verb.
Often you’ll hear people say, and see as written, ”There’s too many people here today.” If the contraction is expanded, the sentence would read: “There is too many people here today,” an obvious subject-verb agreement error. (A subject-verb agreement error identifies a situation when the number — singular or plural — of the subject does not agree with the number of the verb.) The spoken and written sentence should be “There’re too many people here today” if a contraction is used. Then the subject and verb agree with each other.
Beginning writers have a problem with this construction because they start their sentences with There’s, as they do in speech. However, with the written word, using this construction to start a sentence is a lazy and vague way of giving information.
As discussed at length in the previous article, using There is or There are to start sentences should be avoided because the two words give no information and usually substitute for the actual subject and verb buried in the sentence. Only when discussing existence can you use There is or There are to start a sentence, but even then, you can probably think of a better way of expressing that idea.
As shown in the examples below, There’s starts a sentence or a clause and so is often at the beginning of the sentence.
THEIRS
Theirs is the plural of the possessive pronoun Their. Note that no apostrophes are used with possessive pronouns (also discussed in the previous article).
As shown in examples below, theirs can be placed anywhere in the sentence that makes sense.
HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES
1. Theirs was the biggest yacht in the marina.
2. There’s going to be a big storm tonight. (Note this sentence shows that something exists.)
3. The best pies at the county fair were theirs.
4. Most of the time, there’s always enough. (Again, this sentence states an existence.)
Katherine Ploeger, MA, MFA, is a former college English professor (of writing) with 15 years teaching experience. She writes and publishes the Common Writing Errors Workbook, which offers instruction and exercises about more than 40 writing issues. Use the workbook to enhance your writing quality and step up your editing skills. Go to Quilliful Publications for more details and other publications for writers. She also offers a bunch of free information at her blog. Check them both out if you want to improve your writing skills and processes. Photo by Leo ReynoldsRelated posts:
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
it was very interesting to read.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
Yes, you can quote the article; just state the source of the article and my name in your quote. Thank you. And yes, I am on Twitter as katieploeger.