Contractions
These are the easier ones that most of us know pretty well. If you’re cutting down a word – like we are, you can just say we’re. Easy.
More commonly, people get confused between you’re and your. And they’re, their and there, and things like that. Make sure you know the difference between these:
You’re = you are: You’re a wonderful person.
Your = something that belongs to someone: I want to hold your hand.
They’re = they are: They’re wonderful people.
Their = something that belongs to them: I want to meet their friends.
There = refers to a place: I dream about walking on the Moon but I don’t think I’ll ever get there.
We can also contract years with apostrophes. For the 1960s it’s always the ‘60s never the 60’s or the 60s.
The same goes for people’s ages. You don’t need an apostrophe to say someone is in his 20s.
