Theirs vs. There's

dummy pronouns homophones possessive pronouns theirs there

What Causes the Confusion?

'There's' and 'theirs' sound somewhat the same, but they have different meanings and spelling.

'Theirs': Possessive Pronoun

'Theirs' is the third-person plural possessive pronoun which is used to refer to something or someone belonging to or associated with others.

Example

I need a car because my parents can't give me theirs.

We can use 'theirs' instead of 'his or hers' to show that something belongs to a person without mentioning the gender of those people.

Example

I've read every author's point of view on that article, I don't agree with theirs.

'There's': Short Form

'There's' is the short form (or contracted form) of:

There is

There has

Example

There's always a bigger fish. → There is always a bigger fish.

There's been some changes in the staff. → There has been some changes in the staff.

There's = There Was?

Although you might hear someone use the contracted form of 'was' in spoken language, you should know that it is not grammatically correct. Unless there are obvious signs that the sentence is in the past tense, avoid using 's' as a contracted form of 'was'.

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What Causes the Confusion?
'Theirs': Possessive Pronoun
'There's': Short Form

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Theirs vs. There's

What Causes the Confusion?

'Theirs': Possessive Pronoun

'There's': Short Form

There's = There Was?

Comments

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