Contractions

Contractions Contractions Contractions By Sharon The apostrophe is a possessive kind of punctuation mark, but its also used in another way. When we leave something out of a word or phrase, the apostrophe marks the place where it was left out. We use this in everyday speech without even thinking about it. Put another way, apostrophes are used to show contractions. Here are six types of contractions we use every day: Verbs where not is shortened: arent; cant; couldnt; dont; doesnt; hasnt; havent; isnt; wasnt; werent; wont; wouldnt Pronouns where will is shortened: Ill; youll; hell; shell; theyll. This is also used when speaking with names: Dougll be home soon Contractions of the verb to be: Im, youre; whos; hes; shes; its; were; theyre Contractions of the verb to have: Ive; hes; youve; theyve Contractions with would or had: Id; shed, hed; wed; youd; theyd Lets for let us Common Confusions There are four common cases where it is easy to get confused. Its has an apostrophe when it stands for it is; when it is possessive, the correct form is its Whos stands for who is or who has; the possessive is whose Youre stands for you are; the possessive is your Theyre stands for they are; the possessive is their Of course, we use the apostrophe for other contractions as well. If you have ever said: I shouldntve done that, then you already know how to use the apostrophe. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business LetterDisappointed + PrepositionWords That Begin with Q