Q&A for How to Use Contractions

Because that would be confusing, since "he's" can also mean "he is." When we say that "he's" can mean "he has," we don't mean it in the sense of ownership (as in "he has a beard"). We mean the case where "has" is a helping verb (as in "he's gone home" -- "he has gone home.") It could work for "he has" when quoting informal speech though.

No. Say "I have to go home" instead. Say "I've" when you're using "have" as a "helping" (auxiliary) verb. An example: "I've gone to school" means "I have gone to school."

A contraction consists of two words shortened (contracted) into one word. It reflects the way people often speak. "Do not" becomes "don't." "Will not" becomes "won't." "I am" becomes "I'm." "You are" becomes "you're." "She is" becomes "she's."

Yes, that kind of contraction is commonly used in informal speech and writing.

Yes. An apostrophe can indicate possession, or it can be part of a contraction (like "Dave is").

No, there's no rule. Typically a vowel is dropped when combining two words into one, but sometimes more than one letter is dropped, including consonants (for example, "they've" means "they have").

On the contrary, "it's" can mean either "it is" or "it has." For example, "it's my pleasure" and "it's been my pleasure."

It's "why don't you want to go?" That means "why do you not want to go?"

Yes, that contraction can be used in very informal writing.

Since those kinds of words are not used in proper English, there aren't really "rules" governing them, but if you must use them, you would put the apostrophe after the "n" and leave off the "g" as you've done in your examples.

This is a point many people find confusing: "it's" is a contraction meaning "it is" or "it has." It doesn't mean anything else. It definitely does not show possession, even though it has an apostrophe. The apostrophe is there to indicate a contraction. Thus, we say, "it's a nice day" to mean "it is a nice day," or we say "it's been a nice day" to mean "it has been a nice day." Meanwhile, "its" shows possession without an apostrophe! (How confusing!) For example, "the cat licks its paw." So remember: "Its" (without an apostrophe) shows possession. "It's" (with an apostrophe) is always a contraction and never shows possession.

No. "Friends're" isn't an actual word. You may get away with saying it out loud in informal contexts, however.

Yes. "Where's she?" would typically be used in informal contexts or in speech. "Where is she?" is more formal.

Both work. In formal text or speech, you would say "house is" but in informal contexts, saying "house's" would be accepted.

No. You could get away with saying that in speech, but it doesn't make sense in text. Instead just say "people are sitting".

It would be correct to say "My feet don't smell" as feet are a plural, not singular.

No. "You'd" is already a contraction for "you would" (as in "Or course you'd say that.") so having it as a contraction for "you could" would be confusing.