A contraction is a word that is made by shortening two other words. The word contract means “to shorten.” When we shorten two words into one word, we make a contraction.
We make the contraction don’t by pushing together the words do not. When we push the two words together, the letter o in not gets bumped out. An apostrophe (‘) takes the place of the missing letter.
Here are more contractions using the word not:
can not – can’t
have not – haven’t
should not – shouldn’t
would not – wouldn’t
did not – didn’t
will not – won’t
In most cases, the contraction looks just like the two words that were joined to make the contraction. The word won’t is the one exception. The words will not become won’t.
I will not help you this time.
I won’t help you this time.
We put an apostrophe in place of the missing letter or letters when we bump two words together to make a contraction.
▶It’s your turn. Make a contraction with two of the words in this sentence. Then rewrite the sentence with the contraction in place of the two words. John did not do his homework last night. Did you make a contraction with did not? Good for you!