In all my years of tutoring and writing about grammar, this particular point of confusion has never come up… that is, until a couple of days ago, when I clicked through a YouTube SAT-grammar video sent by a colleague and realized, after a brief period of confusion, that the tutor confidently expounding on conjunctions was actually talking about contractions. I was not exactly shocked—I mean, it is YouTube—but still, it was pretty painful to watch.

Operating under the assumption that if one person is confused about a given point—particularly someone trying to explain it to literally thousands of people—then many other people are probably confused as well, I plugged “conjunctions vs. contractions” into Google to see what the depths of the Internet would reveal. Although the phrase popped up immediately as a search term, I was, to my considerable surprise, unable to find a single explanation that both addressed the issue directly and was written in coherent, grammatical English. I felt obligated to remedy the situation, hence this post.

So, let me begin with the basics.

Yes, “conjunction” and “contraction” begin and end with the same letters; the words *look* similar. However, words that look and sound  similar can refer to very different concepts, and that is the case here. Conjunctions and contractions have nothing to do with one another, and in fact they involve completely different areas of grammar. Unless an instructor is explicitly trying to remedy confusion about the two terms, I would posit that they do not belong in the same lesson.

A conjunction is a linking word, i.e., a transitional word or phrase. Common examples include and, but, however, therefore, because, and indeed. These words indicate logical relationships between sentences, or parts of a sentence, and do not involve apostrophes.

A contraction is a blend between a noun or pronoun and a verb, e.g. he’d go, they’ll do. Contractions do involve apostrophes.

If you are studying for, or tutoring, the SAT or ACT, you need to understand conjunctions in two ways: meaning and grammar.

1) Meaning

Many questions on the ACT and the SAT (particularly the digital SAT) test your understanding of logical relationships between ideas.

Common relationships signaled by transitions include the following:

• Adding information, e.g., and, furthermore
• Providing an example, e.g., for instance, specifically 
• Emphasizing a previous idea, e.g., indeed, in fact
• Indicating a sequence of events, e.g., later, subsequently
• Contradicting a previous idea, e.g., however, nevertheless
• Conveying a cause-and-effect relationship, e.g., therefore, thus

In meaning-based transition questions, all of the answer choices are grammatically correct, and you do not need to worry about how the transitional word or phrase is punctuated.

2) Grammar/Punctuation

In grammar-based transition question, you must be able to distinguish between different grammatical categories of transitions.

Three main types of transitions are tested:

A. Coordinating conjunctions (also known as FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) follow a comma and are used to separate two independent clauses, i.e., complete sentences.

Correct: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport, but it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Incorrect: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport but it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

B. Subordinating conjunctions, e.g, because, although, while begin dependent clauses, or fragments, which must be joined to an independent clause to form a sentence. When the dependent clause comes first, it must be followed by a comma. (Because the comma rules are less clear-cut when the independent clause comes first, that construction is not tested.)

Correct: Although surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Incorrect: Although surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

C. Conjunctive adverbs, e.g., however, therefore, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, indeed join two independent clauses and must follow a period or semicolon. They are followed by a comma; however, they cannot follow a comma.

Correct: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport. However, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Correct: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport; however, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Incorrect: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary sport, however, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Note that a coordinating or subordinating conjunction cannot be used in place of a conjunctive adverb and followed by a comma. This is why you must be able to differentiate between different types of conjunctions.

Incorrect: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary. Although, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries.

Incorrect: Surfing is often thought of as a contemporary. But, it has been practiced in Polynesia for centuries. (Note: this construction is used sometimes in informal writing, but for academic purposes it is best avoided.)

 

Now, onto contractions.

As stated earlier, contractions involve apostrophes.

This punctuation is used to “attach” a shortened—i.e., contracted—form of to be or to have to either a noun or a pronoun.

Nouns

• The apple‘s growing = the apple is growing
• The apple‘s grown = the apple has grown
• The apple‘ll grow = the apple will grow
• The apple‘d grow = apple would grow

Note that although contracted nouns + verbs often look the same as possessives (e.g., the apple’s stem = the stem of the apple), they have different meanings.

Pronouns

• It‘s growing = it is growing
• it‘s grown = it has grown
• it‘ll grow = it will grow
• it‘d grow = it would grow

In terms of the SAT and ACT, the main thing to know about contractions between verbs and nouns is that they’re almost never tested. You should be familiar with how they’re formed, and what they mean, but they shouldn’t be your main concern. It’s theoretically possible that a question could shown up targeting them, particularly on the ACT, but it’s pretty unlikely.

On the other hand, contractions between verbs and pronouns are a much bigger deal: questions frequently require test-takers to distinguish between contracted forms, which do involve apostrophes (its = it is, they’re = they are) and possessive forms (e.g., its, their), which do not involve apostrophes. To determine whether the apostrophe is correct, simply plug in it is or they are (or occasionally who is, for who’s), and see whether it makes sense in context.

Correct: Although the almond is usually thought of as a nut, it’s (= it is) actually the edible seed of a fruit.

Incorrect: Although the almond is usually thought of as a nut, its actually the edible seed of a fruit.

 

Note to tutors: To avoid overload, I would strongly recommend that you cover these concepts in different sessions and that you make sure the student is totally clear on one before you introduce the other. While learning these terms for their own sake is obviously not the point, it is hard to have a meaningful conversation about various types of punctuation without invoking them in some fashion. If you don’t have them straight, you risk creating some serious confusion.

And, at the risk of stating the obvious, if you don’t have a strong background in a particular area you’re expected to teach, please take the time and make sure you have the basics down before you attempt to explain it. (And if you’re hiring tutors, you have a responsibility to ensure they know the material you’re assigning them to teach, no matter how charismatic they are, or how well they connect with students.) Otherwise, it’s just not fair to the people paying good money for your services.