Good spelling is very necessary to be able to establish good communication with others. Perhaps you have not thought about it, but there are a large number of homophones, that is, they sound the same, but in reality they are written differently. By being written differently we can differentiate the meanings of these similar-sounding words. That is why spelling is very necessary to be able to understand each other and engage in coherent conversations, either in writing or orally.
There are many examples of words, similar but different in truth, that we tend to confuse. In this case, we consider that establishing what is the difference between ay, hay and there, words that sound similar but each one means something different. Because these words sound similar to the ear, they can raise doubts about how they are written, and if we change the correct spelling of these words we will be changing the meaning and coherence of what we want to express. That is why it is very important for communication to have a good spelling.
What do you need
- Read and consult dictionaries, books and magazines.
- Paper, pencil, rubber.
Instructions
- So that these doubts do not arise and cause problems in what you want to say, we will clarify the way of writing and the meaning that each of these three words has: oh, there is and there.
- Ay: it is an interjection used to express mood movements. Generally to express pain or affliction. For example: Oh I pricked!
- “Interjection to express many and very diverse movements of the mind, and more ordinarily affliction or pain” is the way in which the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines the word “ay”.
- When using it we formulate exclamatory sentences and that is why we must write it between exclamation marks.
- Here are some examples to give you a better understanding of the context in which it is used:
- Oh, how that vaccine hurt in the arm !
- Oh Lord!
- Oh! The shot from the vaccine hurt.
- Oh what a pity!
- So, we use the expression “woe” for a movement of the mind due to pain or affliction and the correct spelling of this word has a Greek y at the end and does not have an h. If you add the “h” when writing it, we will no longer be talking about the same word and, therefore, the meaning is different.
- Having said the above, we are presented with another word prone to confusion that is “there is”.
- There is: it is an impersonal form of the verb “to have” and in this case in the present form. Example where this word is used: “There is a snake in my boot.”
- So that it is better understood, we will explain the verb to have in its impersonal function. It has only one form:
- Present: there is
- past: there was
- Future: there will be
- The conjugation will never change from the noun, since the east acts as a complement, it does not act as a subject. That is why we say that it is the impersonal form of the verb to have (there is no subject, but a complement) and because of this it is not conjugated based on a subject. We will cite some examples so you can see how it works:
- There are lots of cars. / There are many cars. / There is a car.
- There were two storms last week. / There was a storm last month.
- There will be two birthday cakes at the party. / There will be a cake at the company celebration.
- In this case, we only take the impersonal form of the verb to have in the present tense: hay. We must not forget that it is written with an initial “h” and with a “y” at the end.
- Finally, we must differentiate a third word that is different from the two previous ones explained, which is “there”.
- There: is an adverb of place. It is used to indicate the location of something or someone. An example so that you understand it better: “The girl left her coat there and forgot it.”
- This word is written with an interspersed “h” and a tilde in the “i”. Other examplesthat will help you:
- Sandra and Sofía were kneeling there.
- I already looked there for the books and I couldn’t find them.
Tips
- Try to form the habit of reading to improve your spelling.
- Do exercises in which you can differentiate these three words to understand and use each one well.
- In the event that you doubt at any time how to write any of these words, you should check the spelling in the dictionary (virtual or book).