Introduction to contractions

A contraction is when two words are joined and one or more letters are removed and replaced with an apostrophe. There are two types of contractions in English and both types are formed only with the verbs BE, DO, HAVE or a modal verb. These contractions are very common in speech and writing.

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1) Contraction of subject pronoun + verb.

subject verb   words
joined
  letter(s)
eliminated
  contracted
I am Iam Iam I’m
we have wehave wehave we’ve
he will hewill hewill he’ll

Note: the verb DO cannot contract with subject pronouns.

2) Contraction of verb + negative adverb not.

verb neg.
adv.
  words
joined
  letter
eliminated
  contracted
is not isnot isnot isn’t
does not doesnot doesnot doesn’t
have not havenot havenot haven’t
should not shouldnot shouldnot shouldn’t

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