In today’s world, everybody is too busy and hence, the usage of abbreviations is observed more. Although, you may not find these abbreviations in the dictionary, they have become quite popular among the masses. Especially when it comes to English, we all have our own set of abbreviations. For instance, talk to you later or see you later is written as ttyl and cya respectively. Generally, it can be defined as SMS language which is commonly used by the youngsters while texting though they are not used in formal language.

In formal language we use contractions or short forms. You must have  used these short forms quite often but might not remember them.Keep reading, you will understand what  they are and when to use them.

What are contractions?

A contraction can be an abbreviated form of a word or it can be the combination of two words into a shortened form, usually having an apostrophe. These contractions are quite common in spoken and written English.



Example:

1) You mustn’t do it.
2) When I reached Kavita’s place they weren’t there.

In the above sentence you must have noticed that we have written must not as mustn’t; must + not by omitting o from not. Likewise in second sentence, were not is used as weren’t. There are variety of contractions such as:

Positive contractions

Positive contractions generally have more than one meaning like she had = she’d and she would = she’d. However, you must not get confused here and interpret the correct meaning from rest of the sentence.

1) She'd like to dance in the party. (She would like to dance in the party.)
2) He'd finished the dinner when I arrived. (He had finished the dinner when I arrived.)

Some of the common contractions are:

I am = I’m
you are = you’re
She will = she’ll
They have = they’ve

Negative contractions

Negative contractions are formed by adding not in the sentence.

Example:

1) They aren’t coming.
2) It isn’t raining today.

Some of the most common negative contractions are:

Will not = won’t
Should not = shouldn’t
Need not = needn’t
Has not = hasn’t
Have not = haven’t



These contractions are now used in some formal communication, but not yet used in business documents. Whereas, there are other contractions, such as, here is = here’s, what is = what’s, when is = when’s, etc. However, these contractions are good to use in informal communication and must be strictly avoided in formal English communication. Learn more with Spoken English course and improve your English.

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