ShmoopTube

00:03

Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by complex nets.

00:06

Be grateful; it took a while to untangle them.

00:31

How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all? There?

00:38

And here are the potential answers...

00:44

There, they’re, their...

00:46

It may not sound like it, but we just said three words with three completely different meanings.

00:52

The sentence in question requires the version of the word that’s a possessive pronoun.

00:56

Whichever word we choose has to tell us that these webs belong to orb-weaving spiders.

01:02

Trust us, you don’t want to challenge an orb-weaver over ownership of its web.

01:06

Option (A) suggests the word “there” spelled T.H.E.R.E, but this is incorrect.

01:11

This version of the word definitely gets points for versatility. It can be an adverb, adjective,

01:16

noun, pronoun, or interjection, depending on how it’s used in a sentence.

01:21

One thing it can never be, however, is a possessive pronoun.

01:24

So (A) is off the list.

01:26

Now let’s take a look at choice (B), which suggests “they’re” spelled T.H.E.Y. apostrophe R.E.

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This option is also wrong because it’s a contraction for “they are,”

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not a possessive pronoun. If we ever get confused about this idea,

01:39

we just say the sentence with “they are” in it instead of “they’re.”

01:43

Listen to this...

01:44

“They are webs are complex nets...”

01:47

Sounds like one too many “ares,” right?

01:50

This sentence needs another verb like it needs a hole in its head, so we’ll nix choice (B).

01:54

The correct choice is answer (C).

01:56

Their, T.H.E.I.R., is the correct spelling of the possessive pronoun “their.”

02:01

Now those orb-weavers can be reassured that everybody knows to whom those webs belong.

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