Theirs or *Their’s | Meaning, Spelling & Use

Theirs is a third-person plural possessive pronoun and a gender-neutral singular possessive pronoun.

‘Their’s’, written with an apostrophe, is sometimes used instead of theirs. However, this is incorrect and should be avoided. While possession is usually indicated by adding ‘s to the end of a word, possessive pronouns don’t take an apostrophe.

Examples: Theirs and their’s in a sentence
  • I enjoyed my dessert, but Tina and Jay didn’t enjoy their’s.
  • I enjoyed my dessert, but Tina and Jay didn’t enjoy theirs.
  • That’s not our car, it’s their’s.
  • That’s not our car, it’s theirs.

Make your writing flawless in 1 upload

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

How to use theirs in a sentence

As a possessive pronoun, theirs is used in place of a noun to indicate ownership of something by someone else. It’s closely related to the possessive determiner ‘their’. However, while ‘their’ is always used before a noun to indicate possession, theirs is never used to modify a noun.

    Examples: How to use theirs in a sentence
    This house is mine, and that house is theirs.

    Hannah and Tim can’t find their luggage.

    The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

    The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

    Upload my document

    Other interesting articles

    If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or writing rules make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

     

    Cite this Scribbr article

    If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

    Ryan, E. (2023, October 05). Theirs or *Their’s | Meaning, Spelling & Use. Scribbr. Retrieved 18 November 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/common-errors/theirs-vs-theirs/

    Is this article helpful?
    Eoghan Ryan

    Eoghan has a lot of experience with theses and dissertations at bachelor's, MA, and PhD level. He has taught university English courses, helping students to improve their research and writing.