Basic grammar question: what are contractions in writing and when should I use them?

[RobShein]

I feel silly asking this, but I'm a freshman and I keep hearing about contractions in my English class. I know they're things like 'don't' and 'can't,' but I need a clearer definition of what are contractions in writing. My textbook says they're shortened forms of words, but that seems too simple. Are there rules about forming them? My teacher mentioned something about apostrophes replacing missing letters, but I'm still confused about where the apostrophe goes. Like, why is 'won't' the contraction for 'will not'? That doesn't follow the pattern at all. And what about 'it's' versus 'its'? I mix those up constantly. If anyone has a simple explanation or a cheat sheet for common contractions, I'd really appreciate it. I want to use them correctly, not just guess.

 

[EmmaTook]

You know what's wild? Native speakers learn contractions by ear, not by rule. So when someone asks "why is it like this?" we panic because WE DON'T KNOW, IT JUST IS.

But here's the actual grammar:

Contractions happen with auxiliary verbs (helping verbs) and "not," or with pronouns and "is/am/are/have/had."

• I have → I've
• you will → you'll
• she had → she'd
• they are → they're

The apostrophe is a tombstone. It marks where letters died.

"Don't" = do + not → the o in not died. RIP.
"Can't" = cannot → smooshed together, lost an n, apostrophe marks the spot.

It's/its: The apostrophe in "it's" is marking the missing "i" from "it is." "Its" is just possessive, like "his" or "hers." No apostrophe needed because it's already a possessive word.

You've got this. English is chaos, but it's chaos with patterns.