Word Confusion: There In versus Therein

Posted July 21, 2022 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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This was an unexpected word confusion there in vs therein. I thought it would be an easy definition. That’ll teach me, lol.

What it comes down to is there + in is what comes up. Seriously, it indicates a specific place or a success.

Therein is primarily used in a formal and/or legal sense and indicates a containment of time, document, place, or situation.

You may want to explore “Their vs There vs They’re“, “There’s versus There’re“, and/or “Common Sense versus Commonsense“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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There In	Therein
There is a Castle on a Cloud, I Like to Go There in My Sleep – Ludwig II by Bhasker Thodla is under the CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Haw par villa (and Weirdness Therein) by Kiran Foster, New Zealand, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Adverb + Preposition	Adverb
In, at, or to that place or position To arrive somewhere [Informal] To succeed Used when gesturing to indicate the place intended Right there Exactly in that place	[Archaic; Legal; Formal] In that circumstance, time, place, document, or respect In there In or into that place or thing [Pronominal] In that In him/her/it In that matter, detail, etc.
Examples:
Don’t stand out there in the cold, come in here and get warm. We’ll never get there in time. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Try again — you’ll get there in the end. Don’t stand out there in the cold, come in here and get warm. Our archives are up there in the attic, but they haven’t been sorted into any kind of order. The information you want is right there in front of you.	It shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein contained. The insurance policy covers the building and any fixtures contained therein. He was therein, so he knew the situation. And therein lay the difference. He works extremely hard and therein lies the key to his success. Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. Therein lies the rub, Evelyn contemplated. A portrait was taken of the head of the body found therein, now in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland. Moreover, if anything like the needful accommodation be afforded, it will build a nest and therein lay its eggs; but it rarely succeeds in bringing up its young in confinement. I tried to back up my database to a USB flash drive — but therein lies the rub — it isn’t big enough.
History of the Word:
Old English thǣr, thēr is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch daar and the German da, also to that and the.	Before 1000, the Old English thǣrin and the Middle English therin.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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