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Types of Contractions

Neha Karve

Updated November 5, 2023

A contraction is a shortened form of a word or a phrase in which some letters are omitted and replaced by an apostrophe. Often, two words combine to form one contracted word (e.g., is + not becomes isn’t), but a single word by itself may be contracted when spoken (e.g., madam becomes ma’am).

Standard contractions include those that contract not (like don’t and isn’t), forms of the be verb (I’m, you’re), the have verb (I’ve, she’s, they’ve), and the modal verbs will and would (I’ll, he’ll, you’d). Here is a quick list of standard contracted forms.

Contracted not

The word not gets contracted to n’t when it combines with forms of the be verb (is, are, was, were), the do verb (do, does, did), and the have verb (has, have, had).

Modal verbs like can, will, could, and should, which express necessity or possibility, can also all combine with not to form negative contractions.

While can, which already ends in n, combines with not to form can’t, other verbs like do, is, and could simply get n’t tacked on at the end to form negative contractions (don’t, isn’t, couldn’t). In contrast, will and shall lose their endings to combine with not and form won’t and shan’t. Here is a list of standard not contractions.

Amn’t or aren’t?

With the pronoun I, use aren’t not amn’t to frame questions.

However, when the sentence is not a question but a statement, “I am not” is usually contracted to “I’m not” rather than “I aren’t.”

In some dialects (Scottish and Irish), amn’t is acceptable in speech but still avoided in writing.

Ain’t (nonstandard)

Ain’t is a nonstandard contraction used colloquially in some dialects, where it replaces the relatively more formal contractions isn’t and aren’t.

It may occasionally also replace hasn’t or haven’t.

Be and have contractions

Forms of the be and have verbs (am, is, are, has, have, had) can contract and combine with a noun or a pronoun and occasionally an adverb.

Note that the have verb is not contracted in writing when it is the main verb in a sentence and means “to possess.”

Modal verbs like could and would combine with have.

Let’s

The contraction let’s, used often in speech, is a contraction of let us, not let is or let has (which would be nonsensical). Use let’s to make suggestions.

Contracted will and would

Will and would are contracted to ’ll and ’d in casual communication.

Contractions with pronouns

Subject pronouns (I, we, you, she, he, it, they) combine with the be and have verbs (am, is, are, has, have) to form standard contractions. These pronouns also combine with will and would.

The following table shows how contractions for personal subject pronouns are formed.

Note how contractions with ’s can be short for either is or has: she’s can mean she is or she has. Similarly, contractions with ’d can stand for either had or would: I’d means both I had and I would.

Other pronouns like that, which, and who can also form contractions with forms of the be and have verbs in informal usage.

Contractions with nouns

In speech, nouns form contractions with is and has (singular forms of the be and have verbs). These contractions are not generally seen in writing, and never in formal texts.

It’s rarer for the plural verbs are and have to join with nouns (cakes’re baked; the cats’ve been meowing).

Contractions with adverbs

Adverbs like now, here, and there combine with is to form contractions in informal usage.

There can also form a contraction with has.

Plural contractions are rarer: there’re, there’ve.

Contractions in questions

Negative forms using not are contracted in questions, even in formal usage, where contractions are generally avoided.

Negative question tags are also always contracted.

Forms of be and have can combine with question words like who and what in speech.

Contractions of words like what, where, and there with the plural verb are (what’re, where’re, there’re) are less common than singular forms (what’s, where’s, there’s).

Double contractions

Double contractions with have occur in speech but not in writing.

The be verb doesn’t form double contractions.

Contracted of (o’clock)

The contraction o’clock is short for “of the clock” and is used to indicate time.

The word of is also contracted in other terms like man-o’-war, will-o’-the-wisp, cat-o’-nine-tails, and jack-o’-lantern.

Other contracted words

Certain words like ma’am are contracted in speech. An apostrophe is used to signify the omitted sounds.

G-dropping

In some dialects of English, the final sound of a word ending in -ing is not pronounced. When such speech is transcribed, an apostrophe is used to indicate the omitted “g.”

Relaxed pronunciation

Phrases such as kind of and sort of, commonly used in casual conversation, are often contracted to kinda and sorta.

In everyday speech, the infinitive marker to is sometimes combined with words such as going and want. Note that these are colloquialisms never used in formal writing.

Aphaeresis, syncope, apocope

In informal speech, the first unstressed syllable of a word is sometimes dropped (by a process called aphaeresis.) An apostrophe marks the missing syllable.

When a syllable or sound from the middle of a word is dropped, it is called syncope. An apostrophe marks the elision. It is often found in poetry, where meter is helped by the dropping of a sound.

The omission or elision of syllables at the end of a word is called apocope.

Poetic contractions

Words may be contracted or elided in poetry for the sake of rhythm and meter. Such contractions are not otherwise found in writing. These include words like o’er (over), ’tis (it is), ’twas (it was), e’er (ever), and ne’er (never).

Modern poets do not generally require or use poetic contractions.