Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Ask for help > Urgent Help!    

Urgent Help!



Pretty3
Saudi Arabia

Urgent Help!
 
Hi,
 
Today my student ( 13 years old ) asked me a question :
 
" Why do we choose their instead of they �re in this sentence :
 
 ( They �re  -  Their ) favourite sport is football. "
 
 
If you were me , what will your answer be ?
 
 
 
 
Regards
:)

18 Sep 2012      





cunliffe
United Kingdom

Hi Pretty
They �re is short for they are, but we are talking about a possessive. As in My/ His /her/ our. So, it �s their favourite sport..

But I don�t get the rest of the sentence... History isn�t really a sport .. Am I missing something?

18 Sep 2012     



mel_1010
Brazil

Hi, Pretty3,

I would tell the student that "They �re" is the contraction of "They are", which serves for identifying people/objects or give information about them, as in "They �re my favorite players", "They �re very nice men", and so on.

As for "their", explain it is a possessive, used to talk about people/objects related to  person/people in terms of possession. "Their favorite sport is football", "Their favorite players are David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo".

Maybe I would also try substitution exercises:

"Erick and Sam are friends" = "They are friends"

"Sam and Dean �s car is black" = "Their car is black".

As a last resource, I �d use a translated table with the possessive adjectives and their correponding pronoun in the student �s native language.

Hugs!!

18 Sep 2012     



zvonka.rink
Slovenia

Hi Pretty3,

Here is what I think about the sentence.

Firstly, the sentence doesn �t make sense because you can �t say that History is their favourite sport. It should be:

Their favourite subject is History.
 or
Their favourite sport is football.

You can �t say They �re because this means They are like in a sentence:

They are at school right now.

They is a personal pronoun. Their, on the other hand, is a possessive pronoun, denoting possession-of or belonging to them:
- He gave them their books.

I hope this will help.
Regards.

18 Sep 2012     



Pretty3
Saudi Arabia

Thank you all.
 
Sorry for  typing mistake. I corrected it.
 
 
 

18 Sep 2012     



Reemo0o
Israel

Hey people, I didn �t know how I can post a question so I was left with the option of replying to Pretty3 �s post so my question would be answered!
I need someone to tell me why are my contributions deleted and my points gone? It �s been almost a year that I haven �t been active on the site but still can �t get what happened?
any help any one!?
thanks in advance!
 
 

18 Sep 2012     



ueslteacher
Ukraine

@ Reemo0o: if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you �ll see "start new topic" so you press it and type in your post. 
As to your account, you should contact the webmaster by writing him a pm
Sophia

18 Sep 2012     



papadeli
Greece


 
 
 
 
 

I can�t upload the picture for they�re but you can see it here.
 
 
Greetings from Greece,
 

18 Sep 2012     



marwashehab
Egypt

Thanks Papadeli , it �s really helpful.

19 Sep 2012