When we use language informally, for example in conversation, friendly letters or written dialogue, we often join two words, to create one. We leave out letters but we use an apostrophe to show that letters have been omitted.
The pronouns ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ are often joined with am/are/have/had/will/shall to form a contraction. For example:
I + am = I’m I + have = I’ve I + had = I’d I + will/shall = I’ll
you + are = you’re you + have = you’ve you = had = you’d you + will/shall = you’ll
we + are = we’re we = have = we’ve we = had = we’d we + will/shall= we’ll
they + are = they’re they + have = they’ve they = had = they’d they = will = they’ll
And, with ‘she’ and ‘he’:
she + is = she’s she + has = she’s she + had = she’d she + will/shall = she’ll
he + is = he’s he + has = he’s he + had = he’d he + will/shall = he’ll
Note, he/she/I/we/they/you can also all combine with ‘would’: he’d, she’d, we’d, they’d, you’d. This contraction looks the same as he/she/I/we/they/you + had, but the meaning is different. (For example, He’d already gone to bed is not the same as He’d have loved to go to bed, but he stayed up to study. The first sentence He’d is short for ‘He had’ and in the second it is short for ‘He would’.
In informal language, we also combine ‘not’ with words to create contractions:
- have/must/could/do/does + not = haven’t/mustn’t/couldn’t/doesn’t/don’t. (I do not like it = I don’t like it.)
- Note the spelling of the following: can + not = can’t (only one ‘n’); will + not = won’t. (I will not go = I won’t go.)
Here are other common contractions:
- would + have = would’ve (I would’ve loved to go, too.)
- should + have = should’ve (I should’ve remembered to take my keys.)
- what + is = what’s (What’s the time?)
- where + is = where’s (Where’s the toilet, please?)
- it + is = it’s (It’s a sunny day.)
- who + is = who’s (Who’s coming with me?) NOTE: Don’t confuse ‘who’s’ with the possessive pronoun ‘whose’ (Whose pen is this?)
- let + us = let’s