Contraction (grammar)

In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. This often is a result of a common sequence of words, or, as in French, to maintain a flowing sound. However, contraction has gained a broader meaning both in linguistics and other areas of language research. Based on the latest definitions, contraction is shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters. [ISO 4:1984]
English
n English, contractions are commonly used in speech and informal writing. They are almost always either negations with not or combinations of pronouns with auxiliary verbs, and in these cases always include an apostrophe in the written form.

The first category of contractions is those formed by an auxiliary verb or form of be plus the word not, with the o replaced by an apostrophe, e.g. don't, can't, wouldn't, haven't. Notable exceptions include won't, shan't and ain't.

Although these were historically contractions, there are good reasons in current English to analyze them as inflectional suffixes rather than contractions.[1]

The second category is generally in the form of a pronoun (or occasionally a noun) plus an auxiliary verb or a form of to be, with the apostrophe replacing as few as one letter, as in it's for it is, or four letters, as in I'd for I would. Perhaps the largest contraction is I'd've for I would have. Auxiliary verbs which can be contracted include will, would, shall, have/has, and had. It should be noted that in British English it is acceptable to form a contraction with the verb have even when it is used as the primary verb (as with the phrase "I've a date today").

Although uncommon in written English, people often use complex contractions such as wouldn't've for would not have, or combining auxiliary verbs with nouns, e.g. John'd fix your TV if you asked him. Although these can look awkward in print, they are natural and frequently-heard colloquialisms. It should be noted that contractions in English are not mandatory as in some other languages, with the exception of let's (see below). It is always acceptable to write out (or say) all of the words of a contraction, though native speakers of English may find a person not using contractions to sound overly formal.

The only commonly-used English contraction of two words that does not fall into any of the above categories is "let's", a contraction of "let us" that is used in forming the imperative mood in the first-person plural (e.g. "Let's go [someplace]"). Use of the uncontracted "let us" typically carries an entirely different meaning (e.g. "Let us go [free]"). "Let us" is rarely seen in the former sense and "let's" is never seen in the latter one.

Other single-word contractions include: ma'am for madam and gov't for government.

Many people writing English confuse the possessive form of the pronoun it with its contractions. The possessive form has no apostrophe (its), while the contraction of it is or it has does have an apostrophe (it's). See List of frequently misused English words.

Outside the English contractions described above, contractions are virtually the same concept as portmanteaux.