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Everything That You Need to Know About Contractions (Includes a complete list to study)


Many years ago when I went to school, the use of contractions was frowned upon, and for many teachers, a punishable offense. They were never taught in my school system during primary school and only reluctantly introduced towards the end of secondary school as a way to recognize the informal nature in which language was changing. 

If we used them in our writing activities, we would lose points and if we spoke them out loud, then we were immediately corrected and told to "Speak Correctly". Even today as an English teacher, I do not accept them as part of writing although I do accept them in speaking. 

But what are contractions and why are they such an important part of the English language.

Contractions are shortened words that use an apostrophe to combine two words into one. You hear contractions in conversation and see them in writing. Understanding the proper use of contractions can help you to achieve a high level of proficiency in the English language.

How to Write a Contraction Word

Since the word contract means “to squeeze together,” it seems only logical that a contraction is two words made shorter by placing an apostrophe where letters have been omitted. Writing a contraction correctly is simple when you know the general rule of creating contractions.

You replace the letters that were removed from the original words with an apostrophe when you make the contraction.

If you combine “is” + “not” to form “isn’t,” you remove the “o” from “not” and replace it with an apostrophe. One common exception to this rule is the word “won’t.” It is a shortened form of “will not,” but you can see the word “will” is not in the contraction at all.

Types Of Contractions

There are at least two main types of contractions. These types include contracted auxiliary verbs and negative contractions.

Another type of contraction word is one that does not include elision and replacement by an apostrophe. This contraction is a simple combination of two words into a new word. For example, “going to” can be contracted to “gonna”, and “want to” can be contracted to “wanna”. These are informal in nature.

Contractions can be used in subject-auxiliary inversion, meaning the contraction can switch places with the subject and used as an auxiliary verb. This is often used in questions. For example, “She is not” can be contracted to “She isn’t”, and that in turn can be inverted into the question “Isn’t she?”.

How to Write Contractions Words

To write contractions, you generally must delete a portion of a word in a two-word phrase (like the “a” in “You are”), close any space between those words, and replace the missing letter with an apostrophe (“You’re”).

Contractions List

List of Contractions of Auxiliaries

The verb “to be” can take on many conjugated forms (like “is”, “are”, and “am”). In turn, these conjugated forms can be made into contractions when associated with a noun or pronoun. For example:

“I am” becomes “I’m” (for example, “I’m a teacher”), an ” ‘m ” contraction,

“She is” becomes “She’s” (for example, “She’s a doctor”) an ” ‘s ” contraction,

“They are” becomes “They’re” (for example, “They’re professionals” or “They’re accountants”) a ” ‘re ” contraction, or

“The dog is” becomes “The dog’s” (for example, “The dog’s healthy”), an ” ‘s ” contraction used with not with a pronoun (I, she), but with a noun (dog).

It should be noted that the ” ‘s” contraction can be used to indicate a possessive form. For example, “The worker is tall” is contracted to “The worker’s tall” in an auxiliary verb form, but “The lunchbox of the worker” can be contracted to “The worker’s lunchbox” to indicate possession.

Other contracted auxiliary verb forms include those for:

have (” ‘ve”),

had (” ‘d”),

has, (” ‘ve”), or

will (” ‘ll”).

The contractions of auxiliary verbs are as follows:

‘m for am

‘s for is

‘re for are

‘ve for have

‘s for has

‘d for had

‘ll for will

Negative Contractions List

These contractions words usually involve taking the “o” out of “not” and replacing it with an apostrophe “n’t”. Examples include:

“be” (“is not” contracts to “isn’t”),

“have” (“have not” contracts to “haven’t”),

“do” (“do not” contracts to “don’t”),

“can” (“can not” contracts to “can’t”),

“will”, (“will not” contracts to “won’t”), and

shall (“should not” contracts to “shouldn’t”).

List of negative contractions words:

Forms of beisn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t

Forms of havehaven’t, hasn’t, hadn’t

Modal verbscan’tcouldn’tmayn’t, mightn’tmustn’tshan’tshouldn’twon’t , wouldn’tneedn’toughtn’t.

Forms of dodon’t, doesn’t, didn’t

Alphabetical List of Contractions

 

aren’t – are not

can’t – cannot

couldn’t – could not

didn’t – did not

doesn’t – does not

don’t – do not

hadn’t – had not

hasn’t – has not

haven’t – have not

he’d – he had; he would

he’ll – he will; he shall

he’s – he is; he has

I’d – I had; I would

I’ll – I will; I shall

I’m – I am

I’ve – I have

isn’t – is not

let’s – let us

mightn’t – might not

mustn’t – must not

shan’t – shall not

she’d – she had; she would

she’ll – she will; she shall

she’s – she is; she has

shouldn’t – should not

that’s – that is; that has

there’s – there is; there has

they’d – they had; they would

they’ll – they will; they shall

they’re – they are

they’ve – they have

we’d – we had; we would

we’re – we are

we’ve – we have

weren’t – were not

what’ll – what will; what shall

what’re – what are

what’s – what is; what has

what’ve – what have

where’s – where is; where has

who’d – who had; who would

who’ll – who will; who shall

who’re – who are

who’s – who is; who has

who’ve – who have

won’t – will not

wouldn’t – would not

you’d – you had; you would

you’ll – you will; you shall

you’re – you are

you’ve – you have





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