There, their, and they’re – do you know the difference?
Back when I was homeschooling my kids we went over those – and over them and over them again. I’m still not sure that either one of them has it down pat.
That’s why I understand when smart marketers use the wrong words in their promotions. My kids are smart – they know all kinds of things that I can’t begin to comprehend – but those three words get them all messed up.
Why am I telling you this? Because if you don’t have them straight, you need to take extra care when writing your promotions. Some people don’t understand that you can be absolutely brilliant at what you do and still get those words crossed, so you need to get them right.
My suggestion is that you print out a short list on a notecard – then every time you write a promotion use your “find” function on word to locate every instance where you’ve used one of them and check to see if you got the right version.
Here’s the cheat sheet: Feel free to cut and paste.
There means “over there.”
Their means “it belongs to them.”
They’re means “they are.”
“They’re (they are)going to park their car (the car that belongs to them) over there (where? Over there) under the trees.”
Got it? They’re going to park their car over there under the trees.
People judge us in many ways, and one of those is by the grammar we use. This one is easy to catch and fix, so take that extra few minutes to check your work before you send it out.
Yours for success,
Posted: July 26th, 2009 under advertising, copywriting, marketing.