ChanteSez … Either you are or you ain’t

I almost titled this “ChanteSez … Don’t contract a typo.” But there are one too many ways to read that sentence.

So let’s get to it: Contractions are pesky. What’s a contraction? Two words — one abbreviated — joined by an apostrophe.

Here’s an easy way to remember when you really want a contraction, particularly the most pesky one, involving the word “are.”

• ARE = APOSTROPHE
  
• You are = You’re (not to be confused with “your,” a pronoun)
• They are = They’re (not to be confused with “their,” another pronoun)
• Are not = Aren’t