Human beings can get a bit lazy when it comes to speech.  Over time, we have figured out that we can create “shortcuts” in our everyday language that say what we want to say in a shorter amount of syllables.  This is true not just for English, but for many other languages as well.

In English, though, we have a word for these shortcuts: CONTRACTIONS. Contractions are shortened forms of a word or words.  We have both formal and informal contractions…with informal ones showing up more often in speech than in writing. 

Examples of common contractions are can’t, don’t, you’ll, aren’t, I’ll, hadn’t, won’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, and it’s.

In a contraction, an apostrophe almost always takes the place of the missing letter(s), for example “don’t” is the contraction for “do not”. An example of an apostrophe-less contraction is “none”, which is the contracted form of “not one”. Because the English language, both spoken and written, is so fond of contractions, it is important for English learners (native or not) to learn to use them correctly as well as to differentiate contractions from possessives as those also rely on apostrophes. The great thing is that learning and teaching contractions can be fun for both students and teachers, especially when using word matching or memory card games.

Whether you are studying for a contractions quiz or looking for a list of common contractions to prepare a contractions lesson plan, there are excellent contractions resources and materials available, including a fun memory match game of contractions for Kindergarten, first grade and second grade as well as contraction games for third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade.

Of course, learning contractions is particularly important for ESL students and speakers of foreign languages who will hear spoken contractions often and will need to be able to both recognize and reproduce them in writing as well as not confuse contractions and possessives.