Contractions
Concept: Pronoun-Verb Contractions
Definition:
- Contractions are words that have been shortened by reducing one or more letters. A contraction is made with two long words that are combined to make one shorter word.
- Contractions include a special mark called an apostrophe (’). The apostrophe (’) shows where one or more letters have been taken out.
Example:
The words ‘I’ and ‘am’ are made into a contraction by omitting the letter ‘a’ and replacing it with an apostrophe (’). “ I’m” has become a contraction.
What is a Pronoun-Verb Contraction?
A contraction can combine a pronoun and a verb together. It is called a pronoun-verb contraction.
Example:
| Original Long Form | Contracted Short Form |
|---|---|
| I am | I'm |
| It is/It has | It's |
| She is / She has | She's |
| He is / He has | He's |
| You are | You’re |
| They are | They’re |
| We are | We’re |
| I have | I've |
| You have | You've |
| We have | We've |
| They have | They've |
| I will | I'll |
| It will | It'll |
| She will | She'll |
| He will | He'll |
| We will | We'll |
| They will | They'll |
| I would | I'd |
| He would | He'd |
| She would | She'd |
| They would | They'd |
Let’s look at a few sentences where we will use pronoun-verb contractions.
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They've(They have) won the game
We combined the pronoun ‘she’ and the verb ‘is’ to form the contraction, “she’s”. We omit the letter ‘i’ and add an apostrophe (’) in its place.
The word ‘they’ is a pronoun, and ‘have’ is a verb. We have shortened the words ‘they have’ by dropping two letters ‘h’ and ‘a’ and added an apostrophe (’) to show the letters removed from the word.
When to Use Contraction?
- A contraction is an informal way used in our everyday speech. Instead of saying “He will come to my house”, we shorten it to “He’ll come to my house”.
- These shortcuts can be used in informal writing when we want our writing to be more casual and less formal.
Common Mistakes:
Don’t mistake between your and you’re. Your is not a contraction, whereas you’re is a contraction.
- ‘Your’ is used to show possession. It comes after a noun owned by you.
- The word You’re is a contraction of the pronoun ‘you’ and the verb ‘are’.,
Examples:
1. Your handwriting is beautiful.
2. Your mother is cooking for us today.
Examples:
1. You’re a great magician.
2. You’re a very good student.
