First Grade English: Common Contractions
When people talk with their friends and families in everyday life, they often speak quickly and smoothly. Instead of saying every single letter in every single word, their mouths naturally squeeze two words together into one shorter, snappier word. In the English language, this shortened shortcut word is called a contraction. In this chapter, you will discover how contractions are formed, meet the famous punctuation mark called the apostrophe, and master the most common first-grade contractions.
What Is a Contraction?
The word "contract" means to squeeze together or become smaller. A contraction is a single word formed by joining two words together, dropping one or more letters, and replacing the missing letters with a tiny flying punctuation mark called an apostrophe (').
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| THE CONTRACTION CRUNCH |
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| |
| Word 1 + Word 2 ===> Letters Dropped Result|
| |
| [ CAN ] + [ NOT ] ===> Drop "n" & "o" CAN'T |
| | |
| v |
| Replace with: ' |
| |
| The apostrophe (') holds the place of the missing letters!|
| |
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The Flying Apostrophe
Look closely at an apostrophe: '. It looks like a comma, but instead of sitting on the bottom line of the page like a comma does, the apostrophe flies high in the air near the top of the letters! The apostrophe acts like a little flag that proudly announces: "Some letters used to live here, but they were squeezed out!"
Common Contractions with NOT
One of the largest families of contractions is built by joining action helper verbs with the word "not."
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| CONTRACTIONS WITH "NOT" |
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| Two Words | Squeeze Out | Contraction | Pronounced |
| ----------------+--------------+-------------+-------------|
| is + not | drop "o" | isn't | /iz-unt/ |
| can + not | drop "no" | can't | /kant/ |
| do + not | drop "o" | don't | /dohnt/ |
| did + not | drop "o" | didn't | /did-unt/ |
| has + not | drop "o" | hasn't | /haz-unt/ |
| have + not | drop "o" | haven't | /hav-unt/ |
| was + not | drop "o" | wasn't | /woz-unt/ |
| will + not | special case!| won't | /wohnt/ |
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The Mystery of "Won't"
Notice that "will not" does not turn into "willn't"! That would be very clunky to say. Instead, English changes it completely into the smooth shortcut "won't." "Won't" is an irregular contraction that means "will not."
Contractions with Pronouns: IS, WILL, and HAVE
Contractions also love to pair pronouns (like I, you, he, she, it, we, they) with helper verbs.
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| PRONOUN CONTRACTION FAMILIES |
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| Helper Verb | Squeeze Rule | Examples |
| ----------------+--------------+---------------------------|
| + is | Drop "i" | he + is ===> he's |
| | Add 's | she + is ===> she's |
| | | it + is ===> it's |
| ----------------+--------------+---------------------------|
| + will | Drop "wi" | I + will ===> I'll |
| | Add 'll | you + will ===> you'll |
| | | we + will ===> we'll |
| ----------------+--------------+---------------------------|
| + have | Drop "ha" | I + have ===> I've |
| | Add 've | we + have ===> we've |
| | | they + have===> they've |
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The Crucial Difference: It's vs. Its
Pay close attention to "it's" with an apostrophe versus "its" without an apostrophe! "It's" with an apostrophe ALWAYS means "it is" (It's raining outside). "Its" without an apostrophe shows ownership (The puppy wagged its tail). To test which word belongs in a sentence, try saying "it is." If "it is" makes sense, use the apostrophe: it's!
Expanding Contractions Back into Two Words
When reading a story, you can always expand a contraction back into its two original words to ensure you understand the meaning.
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| THE EXPANSION ACCORDION |
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| |
| Squeezed (Contraction) <=====> Expanded (Two Words) |
| don't <=====> do not |
| she's <=====> she is |
| we'll <=====> we will |
| |
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Natural Reading Voice
When an author writes a contraction in dialogue, it tells you that the character is speaking in a relaxed, friendly voice. Reading contractions smoothly gives your storytelling voice life and realism.
Practice Exercises
Exercise 1: Read the following contractions and write down the two original words that were squeezed together to make each one: isn't, they'll, wasn't, I've, can't, she's.
Exercise 2: Rewrite each sentence by replacing the two underlined words with a single contraction: We will go to the park after lunch. The cat does not want to swim in the pool. It is a beautiful sunny morning.
Exercise Solutions
Solution to Exercise 1: In "isn't", the two words are "is not". In "they'll", the two words are "they will". In "wasn't", the two words are "was not". In "I've", the two words are "I have". In "can't", the two words are "can not" (or cannot). In "she's", the two words are "she is" (or she has).
Solution to Exercise 2: Rewriting the sentences: "We'll go to the park after lunch." "The cat doesn't want to swim in the pool." "It's a beautiful sunny morning."