Image acquired from the Internet Hive MindÂ
(This suggestion does not help me, but it might help others. Learn as many techniques as you can if you are an editor, so you can meet your author where they are.)
Image acquired from the Internet Hive MindÂ
(This suggestion does not help me, but it might help others. Learn as many techniques as you can if you are an editor, so you can meet your author where they are.)
I start by reading it in my head as “they are”. If that works, it’s the contraction. If not, I look for “their” as in, is it possessive? I’ve done it this way since 10th grade, and I make few errors. (I mean, it happens.)