What is a contraction?

Two words joined with an apostrophe

I am = I’m

they are = they’re

that will = that’ll

What is an apostrophe?

A punctuation mark used to indicate missing letters.

It was first used in English in the 16th century. and it took until the 18th century for people to begin to decide on the right ways to use it. If you read really old books they sometimes have apostrophes in places we wouldn't, like "lov'd" or "th’imperial".

When to use contractions:

• When it is appropriate

• When it saves time

Contractions are typically seen as informal when writing, and are very common when talking in every day life.
Some teachers will keep an eye out for them, but many (myself included) understand that they are simply a faster way to write.

Forming contractions

In a contraction, Apostrophes stand in for missing letters.

• We would = We’d

• There has = There’s

• What will = What’ll

Careful:

There are a lot of easy to make mistakes with contractions, here are a few:

• They're -> Their

  • They're is "they are", their is the possessive form of they

• Doesn't -> Dosen't

  • If it looks like you spelled "do sent", you swapped the E and the S