Today is Father's Day, in America anyway, and on a totally unrelated matter, I want to talk about three homonyms, they're, their, and there.

I know it will come as a shock to a lot of people, but these words are not interchangeable. A couple of short tests will help you.

"There contains the word "here." If you can replace "there" with "here" in the sentence and it still makes sense, then" there" is the correct word. Here it is and there it is an example.

"Their" is the possessive form of the pronoun, they. It is their stuff. You wouldn't say, It is here stuff, so it is there stuff' is wrong.. You can say, "There is their stuff," but don't let that confuse you.

The final homonym is "they're." This is a contraction of the words, "they are." If you can't replace 'they're' in the sentence with 'they are' and have it mean the same thing, don't use they're. (By the way, don't is also a contraction.) They're going to celebrate Father's Day is good. There going to celebrate Father's Day is bad.

If you can get through the last sentence of this post without getting confused, then you've got it.

"They're going to have a picnic for their father's birthday in the park over there."

Use the right homonym. Help save the English language. Happy Father's Day.