Contractions

In 'Rama to the Rescue' the characters speak in short forms of words. The man says, 'I'm feeling so sleepy.' Then one of them says, 'It's a thief.' The thief thinks, 'They're awake.' On page 27 of your book, Poorvi, you find the missing letters.

'I'm' is 'I am': the letter 'a' is missing. 'It's' is 'it is': the letter 'i' is missing. 'They're' is 'they are': the letter 'a' is missing. A short form like this is called a contraction. The apostrophe (') marks the place where letters are missing.

On page 28 there are more: 'what's' is 'what is', 'I'll' is 'I will', 'we'll' is 'we will', 'that's' is 'that is', 'we're' is 'we are', 'don't' is 'do not', 'you'll' is 'you will' and 'must've' is 'must have'.

Your book says we often use contractions when we speak, and the full forms when we write.