Apostrophes for Contractions

What is a contraction?

A contraction is when we squish two words into one shorter word. We take out a letter or two, and a little mark called an apostrophe (') stands in their place. ✂️

It is like a small jump: do not → don't. The apostrophe shows where the o used to be.

Meet the apostrophe ✂️

An apostrophe is a tiny floating comma: '. In a contraction it always sits exactly where the missing letters were.

do not → don't

The o disappeared, so the apostrophe takes its spot.

Common contractions

Long words	Short word	Letter gone
do not	don't	o
cannot	can't	no
I am	I'm	a
it is	it's	i
we are	we're	a
is not	isn't	o

Read each pair out loud. They mean the same thing!

Why we use them

Contractions make our writing sound friendly and quick, like the way we talk.

• I am happy. → I'm happy. 😀
• We are ready. → We're ready. 🎒
• Do not run. → Don't run. 🛑

Watch the apostrophe spot

The apostrophe goes where the letters left, not at the end:

did not → didn't ✅ (not didnt' ❌)

Play and practise

Play the matching game to join the long words to their short word. Then flip the flashcards and say which letter went missing before you check.

Keep going

Try these next:

• Pronouns to shorten: Pronouns: he, she, they
• Other marks: Commas in Lists
• End marks: Capital Letters and Full Stops

Now you can shorten words like a pro. Wonderful! 🌟