What is a Contraction Grammar - Definition, Examples and PDF

“A contraction is an abbreviated version of a word or words. We use contractions (I’m, we’re) in everyday speech and informal writing.”

A contraction is a word made by shortening and combining two words. Words like can’t (can + not), don’t (do + not), and I’ve (I + have) are all contractions.

We make contractions with auxiliary verbs, and also with be and have when they are not auxiliary verbs. When we make a contraction, we commonly put an apostrophe in place of a missing letter.

How to Use Contraction Grammar Correctly?

Video Lesson

Using Apostrophe to Replace Letters

In Type of that is the result of an Apostrophe look somewhat like this:

Word₁ + Word₂= Word₁’Word₂

_{i.e. Have + Not = Haven’t}

Apostrophe comes in place of missing letters. Like in the above case Apostrophe comes in place of ‘o’.

Compressing or squeezing Word

Professor = Prof.

Above is the simple example of compressing words to make a contraction. In this method just shorten the word and add a Period (.) in place of those missing words.

contractions grammar

Contractions with the verb ‘To Be’.

To make a contraction with a subject pronoun and the verb Be, join the two words and replace the first letter of the conjugated verb BE with an apostrophe.

Words	Contraction
I am	I’m
You are	You’re
He is	He’s
She is	She’s
It is	It’s
We are	We ‘re
They are	They’re
That is	That’s
These are	These’re
There are	There’re
Who is	Who’s
What is	What’s
Where is	Where’s
When is	When’s
Why is	Why’s
How are	How’re

What is contraction in grammar

Without Contraction: They are Playing Cricket.

With Contraction: They’re Playing Cricket

Contractions with ‘Would’.

Contraction with would is very simple, just replace the letters ‘woul-‘ with an apostrophe (‘).

Words	Contraction
I would	I’d
You would	You’d
He would	He’d
She would	She’d
It would	It’d
We would	We‘d
They would	They’d
That would	That’d
These would	These’d
There would	There’d
Who would	Who’d
What would	What’d
Where would	Where’d
When would	When’d
Why would	Why’d
How would	How’d

What is contraction in grammar

Without Contraction: How would you Justify this?

With Contraction: How’d you justify this?

Contractions with ‘Had’.

Contraction with had is exactly the same as with would, just replace ‘Ha-‘ of Had with Apostrophe.

Words	Contraction
I had	I’d
You had	You’d
He had	He’d
She had	She’d
It had	It’d
We had	We ‘d
They had	They’d
That had	That’d
These had	These’d
There had	There’d
Who had	Who’d
What had	What’d
Where had	Where’d
When had	When’d
Why had	Why’d
How had	How’d

What is contraction in grammar

With Contraction: They’d two adopted children already.

Contraction with ‘Not.’

In most cases of Contraction with ‘Not’, we Mostly Replace ‘O’ of Not with an Apostrophe.

Note:

The contraction of ‘will not’ & ‘Shall Not’ is a little different.

Will Not —————– Won’t

Shall Not ——————-Shan’t

Words	Contraction
Is not	Isn’t
Are not	Aren’t
Was not	Wasn’t
Were not	Weren’t
Must not	Mustn’t
Will not	Won’t
Would not	Wouldn’t
Does not	Doesn’t
Do not	Don’t
Did not	Didn’t
Can not	Can’t
Could not	Couldn’t
Shall not	Shan’t
Should not	Shouldn’t

Contractions in Grammar

Without contraction: He will not come here.

With Contraction: He won’t come here.

Contraction with Has/Have.

Have is used with I, you, we, and they, while has is used with he, she, and it. (Pronouns)

Words	Contraction
I have	I’ve
We have	We’ve
You have	You’ve
He has	He’s
She has	She’s
It has	It’s
They have	They’ve

list of contractions in English

Without contraction: It has been a Lovely Evening.

With Contraction: It’s been a Lovely Evening.

Common Contraction Example Words:

In English, there are a fairly small number of contractions, and they’re all made out of common words. You cannot invent your own contraction. Here are some of the contractions you’ll see the most:

Words	Contraction
I am	I’m
We are	We’re
You are	You’re
He is	He’s
She is	She’s
He will	He’ll
She will	She’ll
It will	It’ll
They will	They’ll
I have	I’ve
We have	We’ve
You have	You’ve
He has	He’s
She has	She’s
It has	It’s
They have	They’ve
I had	I’d
We had	We’d
You had	You’d
He had	He’d
She had	She’d
It had	It’d
They had	They’d
I would	I’d
We would	We’d
You would	You’d
It is	It’s
They are	They’re
I shall	I’ll
We shall	We’ll
You will	You’ll
He would	He’d
She would	She’d
It would	It’d
They Would	They’d
Do Not	Don’t
Does not	Doesn’t
Did not	Didn’t
Am not	Ain’t
Is not	Isn’t
Are not	Aren’t
Was not	Wasn’t
Were not	Weren’t
Shall not	Shan’t
Will not	Won’t
Has not	Hasn’t
Have not	Haven’t
Had not	Hadn’t
Would not	Wouldn’t
Should not	Shouldn’t
Cannot	Can’t
Could not	Couldn’t