Contractions

For beginners

You might wonder what the difference between formal and informal styles is. One of the elements that can make your writings informal is using contractions.

What Are Contractions?

Contractions are shortened forms of words, where two words are combined and some letters are removed.

How to Make Contractions?

To make contractions, a single apostrophe is used in place of the removed letter.

I’m here. → I am here.

She’s here → She is here.

When To Use Contractions?

Contractions are used in different contexts. Here are some of the main ones:

Contracted 'To Be' Verbs

The various forms of 'to be' verb, including 'am', 'is', and 'are', can be contracted. For example:

She’s coming. → She is coming.

We’re talking → We are talking

Full form	Contracted form
I am	I'm
you are	you're
it is	it's
he is	he's
she is	she's
we are	we're
they are	they're

Negative Auxiliaries and Modals

'Not' is used to make verbs negative. To use a contracted form of the negative verb, the letter 'o' is removed and an apostrophe is used in its place. This can be done with both modal and auxiliary verbs.

Full form	Contracted form
are not	aren't
is not	isn't
was not	wasn't
were not	weren't
do not/does not	don't/doesn't
did not	didn't
have not/has not	haven't/hasn't
had not	hadn't

Warning!

To use the contracted form of 'I am not', only the 'to be' verb can be contracted, not the negative maker. So the contracted form will be 'I'm not' instead of 'I amn't'.

Modal verbs are also made negative by using 'not'. Like auxiliaries, they can be contracted by removing the letter 'o' from 'not'. For example:

She shouldn't go. → She should not go.

He can’t sing. → He cannot sing.

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What Are Contractions?
How to Make Contractions?
- Contracted 'To Be' Verbs
- Negative Auxiliaries and Modals

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