Contractions- Concept and Its Uses

Contractions 

• A contraction is one word made up of two words. 
• We do this to make things short and trim. 
• The first word usually stays the same. 
• We take certain letters out of the second word. 
• An apostrophe will fill the space of the missing letters. 

Examples 

• Have not à Haven’t  
• Is not à Isn’t  
• Cannot à Can’t 
• I have à I’ve 
• I had à I’d 
• You are à You’re 
  • We can use contractions in normal speech and informal writing (writing notes / writing to family and friends) 
  • We should not use contractions in formal writing. In this case, use the original words. 

Example 

• ‘Do not’ rather than ‘don’t’. 

• An apostrophe and an ‘s’ together on some nouns mean possession. 
• The girl’s bag is stolen. (Possessive noun) 
• The girl’s smart! (The girl is smart) (Contraction) 

How to tell the difference? 

• If the noun is followed by a second noun, then it is possessive. 
  • The girl’s shoes are pretty. 
  • Mia’s purse has gone missing. 
• If the noun is followed by a verb, then it is a contraction. 
  • The girl’s irritated. 
  • Mia’s a great doctor!

Another thing to keep in mind. 

• In contractions, be careful when you use (’s) and (’d) 
  • (How’s) could be (How is) or (How has). 
  • (How’d) could be (How would) or (How had). 

Example  

• How’s your arm? (How is) 
• How’s it been? (How has it been) 
  • So, we have to read the sentence to figure out the correct usage.