their

The children share their toys in the sunny park.

Definition

1. Possessive Adjective (determiner):
   • Belonging to or associated with the people or things previously mentioned: "their" indicates ownership or relation by a plural noun or a singular noun of unspecified gender.

Usage Examples

• (The books belong to the students.)
• (Used with a singular indefinite pronoun to avoid gender specificity.)
• (The food belongs to the cats.)

Advanced Usage

• "their" as a singular they: Used to refer to a person whose gender is unknown or non-binary, increasingly common in modern English.
  • Someone left their umbrella in the office. (The umbrella belongs to an unspecified person.)
  • The artist shared their work with the public. (The artist's gender is not specified or is non-binary.)

Variants and Related Words

• Theirs (possessive pronoun): used in place of "their" + noun.
  • That car is theirs. (That car belongs to them.)
• Themselves (reflexive pronoun): used when the subject and object are the same.
  • They taught themselves to play guitar. (They learned without help.)

Synonyms

• Of them: a phrase equivalent to "their" in possessive contexts.
  • The opinion of them was divided. (Their opinion was divided.)

Related Idioms

• Their own: emphasizing possession or exclusivity.
  • They have a house of their own. (They possess a house exclusively.)
• Their share: a portion belonging to them.
  • They did their share of the work. (They contributed their portion.)

Grammar Notes

• "Their" is always used before a noun (e.g., ) and never stands alone. Compare with "theirs" ().
• It is distinct from "there" (location) and "they're" (contraction of "they are").