Grammar Topic 24 - Contractions

Grammar – Topic 24
Contractions

Have you written a letter similar to the one above? It is an informal letter usually written to people that we are familiar with such as our friends and family.

Look carefully at the letter again. There are some words with apostrophes (’).

it’s

I’ve

you’ll

These words are contractions. They are words that have been shortened and combined. These words are usually called short forms.

Short forms usually have an apostrophe and the apostrophe shows that some letters have been left out.

We use contractions in everyday conversations and informal writing. We do not use contractions in formal writing.

Contractions can be formed with the pronouns:

I

you

he

she

it

we

they

The pronouns are joined with the ‘be’ verb, the verbs ‘have’, ‘has’ and ‘had’ and the modal verbs ‘will’ and ‘would’.

Pronoun	‘be’ verb	has/have	had	will	would
I	I am à I’m	I have à I’ve	I had à I’d	I will à I’ll	I would à I’d
you	you are à you’re	you have à you’ve	you had à you’d	you will à you’ll	you would à you’d
he	he is à he’s	he has à he’s	he had à he’d	he will à he’ll	he would à he’d
she	she is à she’s	she has à she’s	she had à she’d	she will à she’ll	she would à she’d
it	it is à it’s	it has à it’s	it had à it’d	it will à it’ll	it would à it’d
we	we are à we’re	we have à we’ve	we had à we’d	we will à we’ll	we would à we’d
they	they are à they’re	they have à they’ve	they had à they’d	they will à they’ll	they would à they’d

Here are other pronouns.

Pronoun	‘be’ verb	has/have	will	would
that	that is à that’s	that has à that’s	that will à that’ll	that would à that’d
who	who is à who’s	who has à who’s	who will à who’ll	who would à who’d

The short forms are the same for some words.

‘d à had, would

‘s à is, has

The dialogue below shows how the contractions can be used.

Jack: I’d a great time at the football match last night. You’d enjoy it if you’d been there.

Peter: I wish I’d gone but it was my sister’s birthday.

Jack: I’ll let you know when I go for another football match. We can go together. I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

Peter: Yes! I’m looking forward to it!

Try to figure out what the contractions in the dialogue mean.

We can also form contractions using:

(a)  verbs and ‘not’

(b)   modal verbs and ‘have’

verb/modal verb and ‘not’	Modal verb and ‘have’
is not à isn’t	must have à must’ve
are not à aren’t	might have à might’ve
was not à wasn’t	could have à could’ve
were not à weren’t	would have à would’ve
has not à hasn’t	should have à should’ve
have not à haven’t
had not à hadn’t
will not à won’t
would not à wouldn’t
do not à don’t
does not à doesn’t
did not à didn’t
cannot à can’t
could not à couldn’t
should not à shouldn’t
might not à mightn’t
must not à mustn’t

Here are more contractions.

let us à let’s	Tom has à Tom’s	Peter will à Peter’ll	where is à where’s	now is à now’s	here is à here’s	there is à there’s
This is used to make suggestions that include ourselves	We can form contractions with nouns.		We can use contractions to ask questions.

Let’s Practise.

Write the contractions of the words in the brackets.

1.     __________________ (Where is) Peter?  

2.     You __________________ (should have) studied hard for your test.

3.     __________________ (I am) going to the cinema tomorrow.

4.     We __________________ (were not) at home when the fire broke out.

5.     __________________ (There are) drinks and food at the party tomorrow.

6.     __________________ (It is) a hot day today. __________________ (We are) going for a swim.

7.     I __________________ (do not) like apples. I __________________  (will not) eat this apple. You can have it.

8.     My brother __________________ (cannot) wait for next Friday. __________________ (It is) his birthday then. __________________ (He will) be having a birthday party.

Answers:
1. Where’s

2. should’ve

3. I’m

4. weren’t

5. There are

6. It’s, We’re

7. don’t, won’t

8. can’t, It’s, He’ll