Contractions

Contractions
We often "contract" or shorten words in English. For example, we may say "he's" instead of "he is". Note that we usually insert an apostrophe (') in place of the missing letter or letters in writing. Here are some example sentences:
* I haven't seen him. (I have not seen him.)
* Who's calling? (Who is calling?)
* They're coming. (They are coming.)
We do this especiallywhen we speak. We do not contract words so much in writing
These pages show the most common contracted forms.

Contractions are very common in spoken English. They are not so common in writtenEnglish. We may use contractions in a friendly letter, for example, but they are not usually correct in more formal texts such as business letters or essays. If you have to write an essay in an exam,do not use contractions. The only exception to this would be when you quote somebody within your essay, for example spoken dialogue.
Positive Contractions
Notes
Be careful. Some contractions can have two or three meanings. For example, he'd can be he had orhe would. It depends on the rest of the sentence. Look at these examples:
* He'd like to go. (He would like to go.)
* He'd finished when Iarrived. (He had finished when I arrived.)
The contraction 's (= is or has) is not used only with pronouns. It can also be used with nouns, names, question words and words like "here" and "there", for example: The train's late. John's arrived. Where's the phone? Here's your change. There's a policeman.

Short form | Long form |
I'm | I am |
I've | I have |
I'll | I will/I shall |
I'd| I would/I should/I had |
you're | you are |
you've | you have |
you'll | you will |
you'd | you had/you would |
he's | he has/he is |
he'll | he will |
he'd | he had/he would |
she's | she has/she is |
she'll | she will |
she'd | she had/she would |
it's | it has/it is |
it'll | it will |
we're | we are |
we've | we have |
we'll | we will |
we'd | we had/we would|
they're | they are |
they've | they have |
they'll | they will |
they'd | they had/they would |

Negative Contractions
Notes
With the verb "to be", two negative forms are possible - we aren't or we're not etc.
In questions, am not is contracted to aren't, for example: I'm late, aren't I?

Short form | Long form |
aren't | are not |
can't | cannot, can not |
couldn't | couldnot |
daren't | dare not |
didn't | did not |
doesn't | does not |
don't | do not |
hasn't | has not |
haven't | have not |
hadn't | had not |
isn't | is not |
mayn't | may not |
mightn't | might not |
mustn't | must not |
needn't | need not |
oughtn't | ought not |
shan't | shall not |
shouldn't | should not |
wasn't | was not |
weren't | were not |
won't |will not |
wouldn't | would not |

Other Contractions
Here are some more examples showing some very common contractions.
It is possible, and common, to contract three words, for example: I'd've thought so = I would have thought so.

Short form | Long form | Example |
here's | here is | Here's your meal. |
there'll | there will | There'll be nobody here tomorrow. |
there's | there is |There's a taxi! |
that's | that is | That's my car! |
that'll | that will | That'll be $10, please. |
how's | how is? | How's your wife? |
what'll | what will? | What'll people think? |
what's | what is? | What's the matter? |
when's | when is? | When's the wedding? |
where's | where is? | Where's the cinema? |
who's | who is? | Who's your teacher? |
who'd | who would? | Who'dlike ice-cream? |
who'll | who will? | Who'll be there? |

Informal Contractions
Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking casually. They are not exactly slang, but they are a little like slang.
For example, "gonna" is a short form of "going to". If you say "going to" very fast, without carefully pronouncing each word, it can sound like "gonna"....