A Guide to Simplified English
Contractions are like shortcuts in English that make words shorter and easier to say and write. They combine two words into one by leaving out some letters and adding an apostrophe. For example, “is not” turns into “isn’t,” and “you are” becomes “you’re.” It’s important for everyone, whether you’ve always spoken English or you’re just learning, to understand contractions because they are used a lot in everyday talking and writing.
When you write, using contractions—like “can’t” instead of “cannot” or “they’re” instead of “they are”—can change how your writing sounds and how clear it is. This blog post explains how using these shortcuts can affect how people understand what you write and make your writing better.
is not……….isn’t
are not……….aren’t
was not……….wasn’t
were not……….weren’t
have not……….haven’t
has not……….hasn’t
had not……….hadn’t
will not……….won’t
would not……….wouldn’t
do not……….don’t
does not……….doesn’t
did not……….didn’t
cannot……….can’t
could not……….couldn’t
should not……….shouldn’t
might not……….mightn’t
must not……….mustn’t
would have……….would’ve
should have……….should’ve
could have……….could’ve
might have……….might’ve
must have……….must’ve
I am……….I’m
I will……….I’ll
I would……….I’d
I have……….I’ve
I had……….I’d
you are……….you’re
you will……….you’ll
you would……….you’d
you have……….you’ve
you had……….you’d
he is……….he’s
he will……….he’ll
he would……….he’d
he has……….he’s
he had……….he’d
she is……….she’s
she will……….she’ll
she would……….she’d
she has……….she’s
she had……….she’d
it is……….it’s
it will……….it’ll
it would……….it’d
it has……….it’s
it had……….it’d
we are……….we’re
we will……….we’ll
we would……….we’d
we have……….we’ve
we had……….we’d
they are……….they’re
they will……….they’ll
they would……….they’d
they have……….they’ve
they had……….they’d
that is……….that’s
that will……….that’ll
that would……….that’d
that has……….that’s
that had……….that’d
who is……….who’s
who will……….who’ll
who would……….who’d
who has……….who’s
who had……….who’d
what is……….what’s
what are……….what’re
what will……….what’ll
what would……….what’d
what has……….what’s
what had……….what’d
where is……….where’s
where will……….where’s
where would……….where’d
where has……….where’ll
where had……….where’d
when is……….when’s
when will……….when’ll
when would……….when’d
when has……….when’s
when had……….when’d
why will……….why’ll
why would……….why’d
why has……….why’s
why had……….why’d
how is……….how’s
how will……….how’ll
how would……….how’d
how has……….how’s
how had……….how’d
