They vs Have - What's the difference?

they | have |

As a pronoun they

is (the third-person plural) a group of people, animals.

As a determiner they

is (archaic|or|dialectal) those (used for people).

As an adjective have is

gaunt; pale and thin.

they

English

(wikipedia they)

Pronoun

(the third-person plural) A group of people, animals

Fred and Jane? They just arrived.

I have a car and a truck, but they are both broken.

* 2010 , Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida (ISBN 1561644684), page 9:

There is no reason to be scared of iguanas. They do not attack humans.

(the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender.

* 1594 , , Comedy of Errors , Act IV, Scene 3:

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me

As if I were their well-acquainted friend.

Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

* {{quote-book, year = 1997, first = J. K., last = Rowling, authorlink = J. K. Rowling

, title = (w, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), location = (quoted edition: London, publisher=Bloomsbury, 2000, isbn = 0 7475 5955 9, page = 187), url =, passage = Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione.}}

* 2008 , (Michelle Obama), quoted in (Lisa Rogak), Michelle Obama in Her Own Words , New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2009. ISBN 978 1 58648 762 1, page 18:

One thing a nominee earns is the right to pick the vice president that they think will best reflect their vision of the country, and I am just glad I will have nothing to do with it.

People; some people; someone, excluding the speaker.

They say it’s a good place to live.

They didn’t have computers in the old days.

They should do something about this.

They have a lot of snow in winter.

* 2000 , Janice Giles, Hill Man , page 58:

They ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

* 2008 , Christian Carvajal, Lightfall , page 82:

But they ain’t nothin’ in there you didn’t already have.

* 2010 , Alessandro Portelli, They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History , page 207:

Well, they ’s a lot of ‘em didn’t survive, if you believe me.

Usage notes

* (singular pronoun) They'' began to be used as a singular pronoun in the 1300s. This usage has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795,Anne Bodine, ''Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular `they', Sex-indefinite `he', and `he or she, in ''Language in Society'', v. 4 (1975), pages 129-146 to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896.William Malone Baskervill and James Witt Sewell's ''An English Grammar'' (1896) says singular ''they'' is "frequently found ''when the antecedent includes or implies both genders''. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent"; it furthermore recommends changing it to ''he'' or ''she'' "''unless both genders are implied''". (Italics in original.) ''Fowler's Modern English Usage'' (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors have compared the use of singular ''they'' to the widespread use of singular ''you'' instead of ''thou''.Michael Reed, ''Tech Book 1'' (ISBN 0956081312), ''Note abut pronoun usage'', page 9: "Singular ''they'' can introduce some ambiguity because the antecedent of the pronoun “they” could theoretically be a male or female [... but] English has survived the loss of pronouns such as ''thou'' (singular ''you'') despite the consequent potential for ambiguity."John McWhorter, ''Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a Pure Standard'' (2009, ISBN 0786731478): "In this light, our modern grammarians' discomfort with singular ''they'' is nothing but this comical intermediate stage in an inevitable change, as misguided and futile as the old grumbles about singular ''you''." See for a more in-depth discussion. See also the usage notes about '''''themself . * (singular pronoun) Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender. See . * (singular pronoun) Infrequently, they'' is used of an individual animal which would more commonly be referred to as ''it . See . * For information on the use of he as a generic singular pronoun (for individuals of unspecified or female gender), see he . * (indefinite pronoun) One is also an indefinite pronoun, but the two words do not mean the same thing and are rarely interchangeable. "They" refers to people in general, whereas "one" refers to one person (often such that what is true for that person is true for everyone). A writer may also use "you" when talking to everyone in the audience. *: They say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." *: One may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." *: You may say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Determiner

(en determiner)

(archaic, or, dialectal) those (used for people)

* 1802 Swedenborg, E. Arcana cœlestia: or Heavenly mysteries contained in the sacred Scriptures, or Word of the Lord, manifested and laid open [an exposition of Genesis and Exodus]. J. & E. Hodson

Whereas they are called nations, who are principled in charity and they people who are principled in faith, therefore the priesthood of the Lord is predicated of nations as relation to things celestial, which are goodnesses...

* 1883 Judy, or the London serio-comic journal, Volume 33 Harvard University [http://books.google.ca/books?id=8iEoAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22they%20Cockney%22&pg=PA190#v=onepage&q=%22they%20Cockney%22&f=false]

Darn'd if they Cockney Chaps can zee there worn't nort but lie in him.

References

* Online Etymology Dictionary

Statistics

Anagrams

References

100 English basic words English disputed terms English personal pronouns English plural pronouns English third person pronouns English words affected by prescriptivism

have

English

Verb

: Additional archaic forms are second-person singular present tense hast 'and second-person singular past tense''' hadst''' or ' haddest .

To possess, own, hold.

I have a house and a car.

Look what I have here — a frog I found on the street!

To be related in some way to (with the object identifying the relationship).

I have two sisters.

The dog down the street has a lax owner.

To partake of a particular substance (especially a food or drink) or action.

I have breakfast at six o'clock.

Can I have a look at that?

I'm going to have some pizza and a beer right now.

Used in forming the and the past perfect aspect.

I have already eaten today.

I had already eaten.

must.

I have to go.

Note: there's a separate entry for have to .

To give birth to.

The couple always wanted to have children.

My wife is having the baby right now!

To engage in sexual intercourse with.

He's always bragging about how many women he's had .

To accept as a romantic partner.

Despite my protestations of love, she would not have me.

(transitive with bare infinitive ) To cause to, by a command or request.

They had me feed their dog while they were out of town.

(transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement ) To cause to be.

He had him arrested for trespassing.

The lecture's ending had the entire audience in tears.

(transitive with bare infinitive ) To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is not a verb argument.)

The hospital had several patients contract pneumonia last week.

I've had three people today tell me my hair looks nice.

(transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement ) To depict as being.

Their stories differed; he said he'd been at work when the incident occurred, but her statement had him at home that entire evening.

Anton Rogan, 8, was one of the runners-up in the Tick Tock Box short story competition, not Anton Rogers as we had it.'' — ''The Guardian .

Used as interrogative auxiliary verb with a following pronoun to form tag questions. (For further discussion, see "Usage notes" below)

We haven't eaten dinner yet, have we ?

Your wife hasn't been reading that nonsense, has she ?

(UK usage) He has some money, hasn't he ?

(British, slang) To defeat in a fight; take.

I could have him!

I'm gonna have you!

(Irish) To be able to speak a language.

I have no German .

To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of.

Dan certainly has arms today, probably from scraping paint off four columns the day before.

To be afflicted with, to suffer from, to experience something negative

He had a cold last week.

We had a hard year last year, with the locust swarms and all that.

To trick, to deceive

You had me alright! I never would have thought that was just a joke.

(often with present participle) To allow

* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2

"You're a very naughty boy. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. I won't have you chasing the geese!"

Usage notes

Interrogative auxiliary verb have ...?' (''third-person singular'' '''has ...?''', ''third-person singular negative'' '''hasn't ...?''' ''or'' '''has ... not?''', ''negative for all other persons, singular and plural'' '''haven't ...?''' ''or'' '''have ... not? ); ''in each case, the ellipsis stands for a pronoun * Used with a following pronoun to form tag questions after statements that use "have" to form the perfect tense or (in UK usage) that use "have" in the present tense. *: “We haven't eaten dinner yet, have we ?” *: “Your wife hasn't been reading that nonsense, has she ?” *: “I'd bet that student hasn't studied yet, have they ?” *: “You've known all along, haven't you ?” *: “The sun has already set, has it not ?” *: (UK usage'') “He has some money, hasn't he ?” (''see usage notes below ) * This construction forms a tag that converts a present perfect tense sentence into a question. The tag always uses an object pronoun substituting for the subject. Negative sentences use has'' or ''have'', distinguished by number. Affirmative sentences use the same followed by ''not'', or alternatively, more commonly, and less formally, ''hasn't'' or ''haven't . (See ). * In American usage, this construction does not apply to present tense sentences with has'' or ''have , or their negations, as a verb; it does not apply either to the construction "have got". In those cases, use "does" or its negation instead. For example: "He has some money, doesn't he?" and "I have got enough time, don't I?" These constructions with "do", "does", "don't" or "doesn't" are considered incorrect in UK usage.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "have")

Derived terms

* -'ve * be had * have a ball * have a cow * have at you * have it in for * have it off * have had enough * have had it * have nots * have someone on * have to * haves

References

Statistics

* 100 English basic words English auxiliary verbs English irregular verbs 1000 English basic words ----