What Are Contractions?

      A contraction is the short form of two words that are combined.

For example:

I am 👉 I'm

      You make a contraction by putting two words together, taking out some letters, and replacing them with an apostrophe ( ' ).

Use contractions to make your speaking and writing more natural.

I'm excited to go camping tomorrow.

We shortened I and am by taking out "a", and replacing it with an apostrophe.

Contractions with 'Not'

      The verbs be, do, and have can all make a contraction with the word "not".

The letter "o" in "not" is replaced with an apostrophe. Take a look:

is not 👉 isn't

are not 👉 aren't

was not 👉 wasn't

were not 👉 weren't

does not 👉 doesn't

do not 👉 don't

did not 👉 didn't

has not 👉 hasn't

have not 👉 haven't

had not 👉 hadn't

It's a bit different for the contractions of "cannot" and "will not".

The contraction of "cannot" is formed by taking out two letters - the letters "n" and "o".

cannot 👉 can't
I cannot believe that she can't blink. 👀

Tip: You pretty much never write "can not" unless the "not" is in some other part of the sentence, like:

I can not only swim, but unicycle too.

For the contraction of "will not", it's just a bit special. You have to memorize it:

will not 👉 won't

Common Contractions

Here are some more contractions you'll see all the time:

she is 👉 she's

he is 👉 he's

it is 👉 it's

there is 👉 there's

you are 👉 you're

we are 👉 we're

they will 👉 they'll

you will 👉 you'll

he would 👉 he'd

Tip: The apostrophe takes the place of the letters that are taken out.

Great job learning about contractions.

Now, try the practice to help you remember them.