WHAT ARE CONTRACTIONS? A contraction is a word or phrase that has been shortened by dropping one or more letters. In writing, an apostrophe is used to indicate the place of the missing letter. We rely on contractions all the time in normal conversation. When people speak to each other we can make a contraction in three ways By contracting verb + not By contracting pronoun + verb some miscellaneous contractions ain't , aren't, isn't, wasn't , weren't I'd , You'd , We'd , They'd , He'd, She'd, It'd