A contraction is a word formed by pushing together two words to make one word. When the two words are pushed together, some letters are bumped out. An apostrophe (‘) replaces the missing letters.
When a contraction is formed with the word not, the letter o is replaced with an apostrophe.
Here are some contractions formed with the word not:
did not – didn’t
can not – can’t
should not – shouldn’t
could not – couldn’t
is not – isn’t
are not – aren’t
will not – won’t Note: This is the only contraction that changes spelling when adding not.
Bob did not mail the letter.
Bob didn’t mail the letter.
Replace the letter o with an apostrophe when forming a contraction using the word not.
It’s your turn. Change this sentence by using a contraction. Today is not Tuesday. Today _____ Tuesday. That was’t too hard, was it?