The word contract means to shorten or make smaller . A contraction is a word made by shortening and combining two or more words. Most of the time, a contracted word has an apostrophe in it.
I'm (I am), let's (let us), here's (here is), they'll (they will), isn't (is not), wanna (want to or want a)
You could've worked even harder. (could have)
This isn't what I am looking for. (is not)
Matt won't come this week. (will not)
Contractions are informal "shortcuts" that we mostly use in our everyday spoken language. However, in written English, we don't generally use contractions, unless they serve a specific stylistic purpose.
Quick tip: It's best not to use contractions in formal writing as doing this will hinder your purpose rather than help it.
Contractions are most commonly used in tag questions. If the statement is positive, we use a negative tag which obviously has a negative contraction, and vice versa.
You are Mr. Bean, aren't you?
You are not Mr. Bean, are you?
We sometimes use contractions in writing when we want to give it a friendly tone. An example of this is informal letters or emails.
I'm writing to invite you to my birthday party. (from an invitation letter)
Don't worry if you can't make it this week. (asking a friend for a favor)
Another instance when we use contractions in writing is a dialogue in a novel or play. Using contractions enables the reader to better understand a character's feelings.
Character 1: It's such a beautiful day, isn't it?
Character 2: Absolutely! It can't get more beautiful!
Character 1: Jane, you should've joined us for the party.
Character 2: You better know it's been ages since I stopped attending parties; they're chaos at its worst.
We also use contractions to write shorter and more precise advertisement slogans.
If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist. (from an advertisement of a shoes store)
I'm loving it. (from an advertisement of a restaurant)
There are some things that money can't buy. (from an advertisement of a financial institution)
Because contractions and possessive nouns appear similar, students are likely to confuse one with the other. While both possessive nouns and contractions have an apostrophe, these are two distinctly different things serving unique functions. One shows ownership or possession, and the other is the shortened version of two words.
It is only a five-minute walk to Liam's school. (possessive noun)
Liam's school means the school where Liam studies or the school of Liam .
Ana said she'll prepare dinner for all of us. (contraction)
" She'll " is the contracted form of " she will ".
The expressions " let's ", " lets ", and " let us " can drive many students out of their minds. We are now going to explain how to use each of these correctly.
Nearly every English student has doubts telling between " it's " and " its ". The problem is using one in place of the other can make a hash of the sentence, and therefore it's important for students to know how to use the two correctly. Here's how to distinguish between the two:
Another set of often-confusing words that students must be clear about is they're , their , and there . Here's how to make yourself conversant with each of the words: