If you are writing something where you are “talking” directly to your reader, you may use contractions. Writing a casual email or letter to a friend or someone you know well on a personal level would be an appropriate time to use contractions to keep your language from sounding stuffy or too formal. Contractions often create a friendly and casual tone when used in writing. If you are writing dialogue in a play or a novel, you may use contractions to show how a certain character speaks to other characters. This also extends to school assignments when you are creating a scene for a play or writing a short story. If you are creating a slogan or an advertisement, you may use contractions to keep the phrase short and to the point. Avoid using contractions in formal documents like cover letters, medical documents, or legal documents. The only time you will use contractions in an academic essay is when you are quoting sources that use contractions. Some teachers and professors may be less rigid on the “no contractions” in an essay rule. Ask your teacher about this before you hand in an essay full of contractions.
For example: “he is” is contracted to: “he’s”. “They are” is contracted to: “they’re”. You use contractions in a sentence to shorten the phrase and give it a less formal tone. For example: “They are playing together. ” When you use a contraction, you combine “they” and “are”. You then replace the “a” with an apostrophe. The sentence becomes: “They’re playing together. ” You can also use contractions in questions. For example, “Where did they go?” When you use a contraction, you combine “where” and “did” together. You then replace the “i” with an apostrophe. “Where’d they go?”
For example: “It’s late. ” You use an apostrophe because this is the contracted form of “it is”. “It’s been a lovely evening”. This is the contracted form of “it has”. But a sentence like: “The cat licked its tongue” does not require an apostrophe for “its” because the “its” is possessive in the sentence. “It” refers to “the cat” and is possessive, so it does not require an apostrophe. “The cat licked it’s tongue” would mean “The cat licked it is tongue” or “The cat licked it has tongue” and this is clearly incorrect.
“I’m”: contracted form of “I am” “I’ve”: contracted form of “I have” “I’ll”: contracted form of “I will” “I’d”: contracted form of “I would/ I should/ I had” “You’re”: contracted form of “you are” “You’ll”: contracted form of “you will” “You’d”: contracted form of “you had/ you would” “He’s”: contracted form of “he has/ he is” “He’ll”: contracted form of “he will” “He’d”: contracted form of “he had/he would” “She’s”: contracted form of “she has/she is” “She’ll”: contracted form of “she will” “She’d”: contracted form of “she had/she would” “It’s”: contracted form of “it has/it is” “It’ll”: contracted form of “it will” “We’re: contracted form of “we are” “We’ve”: contracted form of “we have” “We’ll”: contracted form of “we will” “We’d”: contracted form of “we had/ we would” “They’re”: contracted form of “they are” “They’ve”: contracted form of “they have” “They’ll”: contracted form of “they will” “They’d”: contracted form of “they had/they would”
For example: “She’d like to go to the store. ” This is the contraction of “She would like to go to the store” as it is the only grammatically correct option. “She had like to go to the store” is clearly incorrect. “She’d completed the work by the time I arrived. ” This is the contraction of “She had finished the work by the time I arrived” as it is the only grammatically correct option. “She would finished the work…” is clearly incorrect. As well, the contraction “‘s”, the contracted form of “is” or “has” can be used with pronouns and it can be used with nouns, names, question words, and words like “here” and “there”. For example: “The plane’s late. ” “Joan’s left. ” “What’s the score?” “There’s the dog. ” “Here’s your receipt. ”
“Aren’t”: contracted form of “are not” “Can’t”: contracted form of “cannot” “Couldn’t”: contracted form of “could not” “Daren’t”: contracted form of “dare not” “Didn’t”: contracted form of “did not” “Doesn’t”: contracted form of “does not” “Don’t”: contracted form of “do not” “Hasn’t”: contracted form of “has not” “Haven’t”: contracted form of “have not” “Hadn’t”: contracted form of “had not” “Isn’t”: contracted form of “is not” “Shouldn’t”: contracted form of “should not” “Wasn’t”: contracted form of “was not” “Weren’t”: contracted form of “were not” “Won’t”: contracted form of “will not” “Wouldn’t”: contracted form of “would not” Other negative contractions like “mayn’t” (contracted form of “may not”), “mustn’t” (contracted form of “must not”) and “needn’t” (contracted form of “need not”) are considered outdated contractions. They are not used in common speech and are often not used in written language.
The exception is “I am not. ” It can only be contracted to “I’m not”. Do not contract “I am not” to “I’m n’t” or “I am n’t”. In English, the contractions “‘s” and “‘re” usually appear after pronouns. For example: “We aren’t ready yet. ” “He’s not a good man. ” You may put a contraction at the end of a question, such as: “You’ve spoken to Mark, haven’t you?” But if you are putting “am not” at the end of the question, it should be contracted to “aren’t”. For example: “I’m early, aren’t I?”
Keep in mind positive contractions should appear in the middle or the beginning of the sentence, never at the end of a sentence. For example: “I think we’re lost. ” “Yes, I think we are. ” You would not write, “Yes, I think we’re”.
Other informal contractions include “whatcha” (contracted form of “what are you”), “ain’t” (contracted form of “am not”) and “gotta” (contracted form of “got to”).
For example: “I am going to the store to buy some eggs. We are having omelets for breakfast. ” If you adjust the sentences to have contractions: “I’m going to the store to buy some eggs. We’re having omelets for breakfast. ” Another example might use positive and negative contractions. For example: “You did not go to the store in time. I am making pancakes instead. ” The sentence with contractions would be: “You didn’t go to the store in time. I’m making pancakes instead. ”
For example: “It is time to party. ” The sentence with the contraction would be: “It’s time to party” as “it’s” is the contracted version of “it is”. “The horse lifted its head. ” This sentence does not need an apostrophe as the “it” is possessive and not a contraction.
For example: “I am going to wake up and brush my teeth. Then, I will get dressed and curl my hair. My mom is not going to be happy because I am late for the bus. She will tell me not to eat breakfast and to run for the bus instead. On my walk to school, I will see my friend Lola. Lola is one of my best friends at school. ” If you adjust this paragraph so it has contractions: “I’m going to wake up and brush my teeth. Then, I’ll get dressed and curl my hair. My mom isn’t going to be happy because I’m late for the bus. She’ll tell me not to eat breakfast and to run for the bus instead. On my walk to school, I’ll see my friend Lola. Lola’s one of my best friends at school. ”
